in charge of it. Mr. Mondell of Wyoming, who was leader of the forces on the floor of the House, and Mr. Reeder of Kansas, for effective work on the committee, deserve special credit. Representative Francis G. Newlands, who has long been working for the passage of such a measure, again did effective work. Representative Tongue of Oregon, as chairman of the committee, and Representative Sutherland of Utah, were also prominently identified with the bill." Public discussion turns more upon markets than on any one proposition in planning for our national prosperity. The policy of the United States for the last forty years has been to build up home markets, not only for our manufacturers, but for our farmers as well. We have built up our manufactories in order that we may have home markets for our farmers, and also to encourage everything that could permanently live and prosper within the United States through the diversification of our industries. Forty-six years ago Iowa was a new country and there was no homestead law, so the settlers bought their land. Their Eastern friends were somewhat alarmed as to what the result might be, but the East built railroads to Iowa pioneers, and sometimes went farther west than they had gone and waited for them to come, and the result in regard to marketing the Western farm products was in some cases unsatisfactory to the Eastern farmer, but the Eastern manufacturer got such a market as is not to be found anywhere else in the world outside of the Mississippi Valley; and the prosperity of the manufacturer has in turn brought prosperity to the Eastern farmer. Whatever temporary detriment the opening up of the Western lands did to the Eastern farmer has been wholly overcome and overbalanced by the benefit which the Eastern farmer has received from the establishment of the great manufacturing industries of the East. As Congressman Newlands of Nevada once said in a speech delivered at a banquet to a number of public prominent men, "We have gone on developing the West as far In 1900 as the one hundredth meridian. we sold $950,000,000 worth of American farm products in foreign countries, and we are developing a market for our products in Asia which will absorb the whole surplus of farm products from the West, no matter how many additional acres of arid land we may reclaim and cultivate. The products of the Western lands will simply increase the great aggregate of wealth which the American farmer is bringing back to this country for our agricultural exports." The unpleasant conviction has been forced upon us that the United States in its population is becoming somewhat out of balance as regards the town and the country. The cities are growing in proportion faster than the country. There is danger in this and everything possible should be done to promote the growth of rural population. Uncle Sam has taken the greatest step in this regard in the passing of the Irrigation Bill, which means thousands of new homes in the West. Uncle Sam has a great deal of land and a great deal of water out there. That land is arid and the water which should make it productive is running to waste. Uncle Sam will wet some of those great mountains, valleys and plains and build more homes and make more markets. That is the development of the United States that will do the most good. It will take many years to wet all that dry land, but the first great step has been taken, and it is only a matter of time when the great stretch of now desert country will give forth bountiful harvests to increase the wealth of the entire country. Uncle Sam has given the West its greatest gift. There now dawns upon this great tract of country a future so bright that it is impossible. to even prophesy the wonderful development that is now within reach. Owing to its great importance and the widespread interest manifested in the bill, I herewith append the full text of the law: "An Act appropriating the receipts from the sale and disposal of public lands in certain States and Territories to the con ury, to be known as the 'reclamation fund,' to be used in the examination and survey for and the construction and maintenance of irrigation works for the storage, diversion, and development of waters for the reclamation of arid and semi-arid lands in the said States and Territories, and for the payment of all other expenditures provided for in this Act: "Provided, That in case the receipts from the sale and disposal of public lands other than those realized from the sale and disposal of lands referred to in this section are insufficient to meet the requirements for the support of agricultural colleges in the several States and Territories, under the Act of August thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety, entitled "An Act to apply a portion PROPOSED CANAL FROM ST. MARY RIVER, MONTANA. In the development of this system 500,000 acres of land can be reclaimed at an estimated cost of not over $10 per acre. This land reclaimed will be worth from $35 to $50 per acre and will support a large agricultural population. struction of irrigation works for the reclamation of arid lands. "Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled: "That all moneys received from the sale and disposal of public lands in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming, beginning with the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and one, including the surplus of fees and commissions in excess of allowances to registers and receivers, and excepting the five per centum of the proceeds of the sales of public lands in the above States set aside by law for educational and other purposes, shall be, and the same are hereby, reserved, set aside, and appropriated as a special fund in the Treas of the proceeds of the public lands to the more complete endowment and support of the colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts, established under the provisions of an Act of Congress, approved July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two," the deficiency, if any, in the sum necessary for the support of the said colleges shall be provided for from any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated. and "Section 2. That the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized and directed to make examinations and surveys for, and to locate and construct, as herein provided, irrigation works for the storage, diversion, and development of waters, including including artesian artesian wells, to report to Congress at Congress at the beginning of each as regular session the results of such examinations and surveys, giving estimates of cost of all contemplated works, the quantity and location of the lands which can be irrigated therefrom, and all facts relative to the practicability of each irrigation project; also the cost of works in process of construction as well as of those which have been completed. to "Section 3. That the Secretary of the Interior shall, before giving the public notice provided for in section four of this Act, withdraw from public entry the lands required for any irrigation works contemplated under the provisions of this Act, and shall restore to public entry any of the lands so withdrawn when, in his judgment, such "Provided, That the commutation provisions of the homestead laws shall not apply to entries made under this Act. "Section 4. That upon the determination by the Secretary of the Interior that any irrigation project is practicable, he may cause to be let contracts for the construction of the same in such portions or sections as it may be practicable to construct and complete as parts of the whole project, providing the necessary funds for such portions or sections are available in the reclamation fund, and thereupon he shall give public notice of the lands irrigable under such project, and limit of area per entry, which limit shall represent the acreage which, in the opinion of the Secretary, may be reasonably required for the support of a family upon the lands in question; also of the charges which shall be made per acre upon the said entries, and upon lands in private ownership which may be irrigated by the waters of the said irrigation project, and the number of annual installments, not exceeding ten, in which such charges shall be paid and the time when such payments shall commence. The said charges shall be determined with a view of returning to the reclamation fund the estimated cost of construction of the project, and shall be apportioned equitably: Part of a Texas system for irrigating rice fields. The water is pumped from the Rio Grande river into canals. The pumps have a combined capacity of 48,000 gallons per minute. lands are not required for the purposes of this Act; and the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized, at or immediately prior to the time of beginning the surveys for any contemplated irrigation works, to with draw from entry, except under the homestead laws, any public lands believed to be susceptible of irrigation from said works; "Provided, That all lands entered and entries made under the homestead laws within areas so withdrawn during such withdrawal shall be subject to all the provisions, limitations, charges, terms, and conditions of this Act; that said surveys shall be prosecuted diligently to completion, and upon the completion thereof, and of the necessary maps, plans, and estimates of cost, the Secretary of the Interior shall determine whether or not said project is practicable and advisable, and if determined to be impracticable or unadvisable he shall thereupon restore said lands to entry; that public lands which it is proposed to irrigate by means of any contemplated works shall be subject to entry only under the provisions of the homestead laws in tracts of not less than forty nor more than one hundred and sixty acres, and shall be subject to the limitations, charges, terms, and conditions herein provided: "Provided, That in all construction work eight hours shall constitute a day's work, and no Mongolian labor shall be employed thereon. "Section 5. That the entryman upon lands to be irrigated by such works shall, in addition to compliance with the homestead laws, reclaim at least one-half of the total irrigable area of his entry for agricultural purposes, and before receiving patent for the lands covered by his entry shall pay to the Government the charges apportioned against such tract, as provided in section four. No right to the use of water for land in private ownership shall be sold for a tract exceeding one hundred and sixty acres to any one landowner, and no such sale shall be made to any landowner unless he be an actual bona-fide resident on such land, or occupant thereof residing |