In Egypt the floods commonly rise to a level averaging 251 feet above the ordinary low water level at the First Cataract. In 1877 the flood rose only 20 feet. The difference of 51 feet prevented the water from flowing to nearly a million acres of land. Terrible famine ensued and the government lost $5,500,000 simply in taxes because the poverty-stricken, famishing people could not pay. The great Assuan Dam was built to prevent the recurrence of such disasters. Behind it the Nile has been converted into a narrow lake 200 miles long so that there is plenty of water at all seasons.
Contrast Egypt's experience with that of China. Although China has many small irrigation works, she has not had a modern government to carry out great irrigation projects. Therefore we are frequently called upon to contribute to relief funds for the millions who suffer from famine. In addition to her primitive irrigation system, China needs great dams, canals, and aqueducts, not only to provide water in times of drought, but to control the water in times of flood. If China's great rivers could be properly regulated, not only would the people themselves be saved from untold suffering, but the wealth of the country would greatly increase to the benefit of other countries as well as of itself. The purchasing power of the country would probably increase so much as to make a difference of scores of millions of dollars each.year in the trade of the United States alone.
How Irrigation Promotes Civilization.—Irrigation is one of the strongest agencies in promoting civilization. The earliest civiliza tions grew up in Egypt, Mesopotamia, Northern India, and China, where irrigation has always been of the highest importance. There are at least five distinct ways in which irrigation promotes civilization : (1) People who practice irrigation cannot wander from place to place as do primitive savages. They must stay in one home. Hence every improvement that they make in their houses or fields is of per manent value, and stimulates them to do more.
(2) Such people learn to have forethought, for otherwise their ditches and dams will not be ready, and their crops will not grow. They also learn industry, for they cannot put off their work. If the
water is led onto the fields too late or allowed to remain too long there will be a poor harvest. Forethought and industry are at the base of all advances in civilization.
(3) Irrigation also promotes civilization by teaching people to live in peace and submit to the will of the majority. Suppose a number of farmers settle along a small stream in a new country. In a dry year those living farther up-stiteam are tempted to take too much water, thus insuring good crops for themselves, but ruining those of the people farther down-stream. When such things happen quarrels arise at once. In our own Western States, when irrigation was first begun and before laws had been framed, more than one fight with guns occurred for just these reasons. Such a condition, however, can not continue. People soon realize that if anyone begins to tamper with the water, all the rest run the risk of serious loss because their own crops may be left dry. Hence strict laws are passed, and public opinion enforces them most sternly. When people learn to obey the law so carefully in one respect, they tend also to obey in others. Ac cordingly few places are more peaceable and law-abiding than irriga tion communities even among people otherwise low in the scale of civilization.
(4) Irrigation also helps to teach self-government. For example, in parts of northern Italy the users of water from a given ditch meet in November and elect representatives to a sort of water parliament representing all who are supplied by one large canal. Each village plans beforehand what crops it will raise the next year. Then the water is divided according to the need of each.
(5) Another way in which irrigation promotes civilization is by causing people to live close together, and yet letting each family have a yard of its own. In California, for instance, the irrigated farms, especially those where fruit is raised, are comparatively small and no one feels that he is far from his neighbors. Where people live com pactly in irrigated districts, they are able to support good schools, churches, and other helpful institutions.