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like cows", as the ranchers said, was beginning to soften somewhat under the unique sturdiness and fortitude of these cattle that withstood the elements so well, These were not enough and there are other reasons. As, for example, the climate in the Southwest is second to none in its attraction to people, and then there was the war. In Arizona alone there were three jet training fields and still are. In Nevada are several others, one of them Nellis Field right here in Las Vegas. The young men who trained and then fulfilled their destinies in the service of their nation came home, many of them still dreaming of starlit nights, warm and sunny days, and it was they who either came back with their own newly established families or persuaded their parents to join them in the westward journey. So now we have all the elements which caused the explosion in the Southwest. Necessarily, they have been sketchy because of the limitation of time and your patience. The lack of dependable rainfall in the Southwest eliminates it as a factor upon which farmers and ranchers can regularly depend. Irrigation is, of course, the answer. Through the intricate series of canals and waterways which experience and engineering have combined to devise, over many many years, the farmers in the Southwest face hazard only if their principal water supply comes not from the canals but from pumps. The underground water table in most sections has dropped sharply as more and more land was put in- to commercial agricultural production and farmers depending on pumps were faced with only one alternative: to work less land, and this many of them have done. Well, with rainfall unpredictable except as to its meager quantity and wi th the water table showing signs of record shrinkage and with every re- source being strained to institute programs for conservation, the outlook would appear a bleak one no matter from which of its many sides the problem is viewed. There is, however, a ray of sunshine which is daily growing stronger, and one day before too long may well be so bright as to put today's water pro- blems in the shadows. It is the conversion of sea water to fresh water. Have you noticed, as I frequently have, that unless there is complusion, the scientist is a meditative and unhurried scholar whose greatest pleasure is in the pursuit of knowledge, and out of that pursuit have come all the things which make our lives so rich and comfortable and happy. The fact is that when the need is great and complusion does exist, scientists, too, can turn on the heat, so to speak, and arrive at unbelievable conclusions in an unbelievably short time. So it may not be said that a workable system for conversion of salt water to fresh water is a long way off. Indeed it may be just around the corner. - 5 -