--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Maughn, George H. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 23 number: 4 published: 1920-02 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Maughn, George H., "A Warning," *Improvement Era* 23, no. 4 (February 1920): 306–307.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2304unse 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: improvementera2304unse start_page: 306 end_page: 307 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1920-02) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2304unse publication_year: 1920 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 1920, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # A Warning A Warning By George H. Maughn, of Ricks Normal College There was a community in a favored land with first right to the water of a beautiful stream. There were others who needed water, but those of the first right "had none to spare," although they had it to waste. They squandered water. It ran over the same meadow for days and sometimes weeks. They were careless in the use of this great blessing and their yields were never very large. Repeated irrigation was made to take the place of cultivation— a bad practice. Other towns sprung up and needed water and asked for it, so those of the first right guarded theirs more selfishly year by year. Their fields became hard and baked and lifeless. The low spots became boggy. Great quantities of moisture evaporated yearly from the surface and a black pestilence gradually crept into the soil. It was noted that spots on certain farms refused to produce useful plants, and still the wasteful, careless use of water went on. It was recorded that one man struck his neighbor on the head with a shovel and killed him, because of water. Thus two homes were wrecked; and the men had both been wasting water. The black foe crept closer and closer to the doors of the homes in that place. The swamps increased in size, and bred great swarms of pests. The land that had been exceedingly fertile at first was now alkaline and foul smelling. It turned a sickly visage to the heavens. The population lost its standing as a progressive, prosperous people and the homes became uninviting. Selfishness, selfishness and slothfulness, had made this wonderful land, first an unproductive spot and then a place unfit to inhabit. The land has now gone back to a wild, unclaimed state, and is many times more irreclaimable than it was when covered with sagebrush and before the ditches were made. A Land of Promise What a wonderful soil is this of the international plain? and uplands! Nature has granaried for a thousand years the fertility that has been available. What a sin it is for men, — A WARNING 307 through the use of too much water, to wash out this stored up treasure and leave the land poor! A Contrast A season of extreme drouth reduced the water in the streams until people on the newer ditches found their canals dry. War conditions and a call from the Government to produce more food had stimulated the farmers to plant every acre possible; and there was no water when the scanty winter rainfall was gone. The parching acres grew first a dark green, then some of the leaves turned yellow and then brown. Crop failure seemed sure. The faces of the farmers were drawn and their hearts heavy because of the loss they would have, and because of a kind of pity they felt for the withering, drying plants they could not save. A True Neighbor The phone rang and a kindly voice over the wire, seven miles away, said: "Is that you, Hans?" "Yes." "This is Mr. Jones of the Pioneer Ditch Company." "Yes, I recognize your voice, Mr. Jones," said Hans. "We know you need water down there in New Sweden, and have decided to share up with you. Next Monday we will turn into your ditch, thirty cubic feet of water and you may have it for ten days. Notify your people and make the best use of it." This thing was repeated twice during that difficult summer, and the result was a fair crop for the people of New Sweden. That fall the Pioneer Ditch Company refused any pay for the water they had turned into the New Sweden ditch. This was not the first time these generous, big-hearted men had divided what they had with less fortunate neighbors. They work together for community betterment. They are wise in their husbandry. Their land yields wonderful crops. Though productive at first, it becomes more fertile year by year. A larger population of future fenerations can inhabit this land and prosper a thing which God intends should be. The fields are teeming with life and joy and beauty. "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give unto your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again." Rexburg, Idaho