The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 58, July 1954 - April, 1955 Page: 188

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

during most of the period only seven. The Peace Policy officially
ended in 1882 and Ewing died the following year. The Bureau did
a great work in the advancement of Indian mission work and
still carries on its work. The main achievements during the period
under consideration were the advancement of Indian education
and the securing of complete religious liberty for the Indians. It
is now an official organization of the Catholic Church.
This is an interesting and scholarly book which shows every
evidence of long and careful research. Any person who reads it
with care can hardly escape the conclusion that those charged with
the administration of Grant's Peace Policy grossly discriminated
against the Catholics and failed to give them the consideration
which they deserved by virtue of their long record of missionary
work among the Indians.
EDWARD EVERETT DALE
University of Oklahoma
More Water for Texas: the Problem and the Plan. By Walter
Prescott Webb. Austin (University of Texas Press), 1954-
Pp. x+69. $2.75.
Not to alarm but to induce sober thought, it may be said that
natural resources when easily obtained or plentiful or cheap are
little appreciated and that only with scarcity and high costs is
serious consideration given to conservation. To substantiate this
general statement reference may be made to the problems that
have arisen in such diverse fields as fish and game, soil and grass,
gas and oil.
Water, common as it may be, almost as free as air, at least cheap
by any standard, has received much attention from man but, as
has been said about the weather, little has been done about it.
One wonders why history, as it is written for popular consump-
tion, reveals only partly the causes of the appearance and disap-
pearance of ancient civilizations. Religion, politics, and war are
the reasons usually ascribed, but could it not be that the scarcity
of water and soil in one area and their relative abundance in
another have had some influence? Men, then as now, were no
doubt inclined to disguise their necessities with the cloak of
principle.
It cannot be denied that springs, streams, and flowing wells

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