--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Israelsen, O. W. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 22 number: 5 published: 1919-03 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Israelsen, O. W., "Irrigation and Education. II," *Improvement Era* 22, no. 5 (March 1919): 428.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2205unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera2205unse start_page: 428 end_page: 428 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1919-03) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2205unse publication_year: 1919 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1919, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Irrigation and Education. II Irrigation and Education By Prof. O. W. Israelsen, of the Utah Agricultural College. II. Purpose To be "first in right" because "first in time" is today insuf- ficient security for the prospective . irrigator or for the young man who is seeking an education. At the outset a definite Pur- pose must also be clearly decided upon. The western public, through its various state governments, grants rights to the use of water for irrigation, only upon a spe- cific statement by the applicant of the Purpose for which the water is to be used. He must say whether he expects to irrigate a farm, develop a mine, generate electricity, supply water for his farm animals, or furnish a community with drinking water, before he is given any claim to the water for which he makes application. Accurate determination of rights to water which have become vested through use in the years gone by, is also based on the Purpose for which such waters have been used. A man living near the mouth of a canyon may have used water during the last twenty years to run a flour mill, but this does not entile him to now use the water in irrigation for the pro- duction of wheat. As in irrigation policies, so it is in educational development. The individual who expects to obtain a right to the respect and support of his fellows without giving evidence that in every thought and movement he has a definite Purpose, is very likely to meet early disappointment. It is no longer sufficient to just be studying. To succeed educationally the young man of today must study to become master of one field of endeavor, whether it be law, medicine, engineering or agriculture. Daily the world is determining what each man has done that gives him a right to claim a pro rata share of its Progress, financial, educational and spiritual; and he who has gone through a purposeless past is seldom affirmed in his claim of a vested right to a given part of the results of the world's advancement. Adherence to Pur- pose is a basic element which contributes very largely to suc- cessful careers in life. Lack of definiteness in Purpose is equiv- alent to lack of Progress in embryo. But, as much as depends on Priority and on Purpose, the first two of the five P's, simply starting early and adhering to Purpose will, of themselves, completely solve neither the irri- gation nor the education problems of today. The importance of choosing a proper Place and of keeping it will be considered next.