The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1901-12-06
MANkATO FREE PRESS.

currency of the country should bt
made responsive to the demands of oul
domestic trade and commerce.
| Economy in expenditures is urged
Amendment of the interstate commerce
act is advised to insure the cardina
/ provisions of that act. The work car
ried on by the department of agricul
! ture is next considered and praised
highly. The president then turns tc
/ forest preservation and irrigation OF
arid lands, saying that both are highly
necessary. He would put all the work
In connection with the forest reserves
IN charge of the bureau of forestry.
Irrigation.
! The president continues by tracing
the connection between the forest re-
/ serves and the water supply. He says;
! The forests are natural reservoirs.
BY restraining the streams in flood
and replenishing them in drought they
make possible the use Of waters other
wise wasted. They prevent the soil
from washing and so protect the stor-
age reservoirs from filling up with
silt. Forest conservation is, therefore,
( an essential condition of water conser-
/ walton.
+ The forests alone cannot, however,
fully regulate and conserve the waters
Of the arid region. Great storage works
are necessary to equalize the flow of
E! streams and TO save the food waters
. Their construction has been conclu-
siVely shown to be an undertaking
too vast for private effort. Nor can it
be best accomplished by the individual
/ states acting alone The government
should construct and maintain these
/ reservoirs as it does other public works.
Where their purpose is to regulate the
now or streams, the water should be
turned freely into the channels in the
dry season to take the same course
under the same laws as the natural
| flow.
The reclamation of the unsettled arid
public lands presents a different prob
| lem. Here 1t is not enough to regulate
the flow Of streams. The object of the
government is to dispose of the land
to settlers who will build homes upon
/ It To accomplish this object water
must be brought within their reach.
! The pioneer settlers on the arid pub
Lie domain chose their homes along
streams from which they could them
selves divert the water to reclaim their
/ holdings. Such opportunities are prac-
tically gone. There remain, however,
vast areas Of public land which can be
made available for homestead settle
! ment, but only by reservoirs and main
line canals impracticable for private
enterprise. These irrigation works
should be built by the national govern
ment. The lands reclaimed by them
should be reserved by the government
for actual settlers, and the cost of con-
struction should, so far as possible, be
repaid by the land reclaimed. The dis
tribution of the water, the division of
the streams among irrigators, should
be left to the settlers themselves in
conformity with state laws and with
out interference with those laws or
with vested rights.
The declaration is made that in the
arid states the only right to water
which should be recognized is that of
use. The president says that the doc
apart from land cannot prevail without
causing wrong.
TnsuIar Problems.
Insular questions are next treated.
Tn How OF, or ho TO
the territory on the traditional Amer
lean lines. Porto Rico is declared to be
thriving as never before. The atten-
ton of congress is called to the need Of
legislation concerning the islands pub
lie lands. In Cuba it is stated that
much progress has been made toward
putting the independent government of
the island upon firm footing, and it is
declared that independence will be an
accomplished fact. The president
adds:
Elsewhere have discussed the ques-
ton of reciprocity. In the case of Gu
ba, however, there are weighty reasons
of morality and of national interest
why the policy should be held to have
q peculiar application, and l most ear
nestly ask your attention to the wis
dom, indeed to the vital need, of pro-
viding for substantial reduction in
the tariff duties on Cuban imports into
the United States.
In dealing with the Philippine peo-
pie we must show both patience and
strength, forbearance and steadfast res
olution. Our aim is high. We do not
desire to do for the islanders merely
what has elsewhere been done for trop-
ic peoples by even the best foreign
governments. We hope to do for them
what has never before been done for
any people of the tropics-to make
them fit for self government after the
fashion of the really free nations.
The only fear is lest in our overanX-
iety we give them degree of indie
pendence for which they are unfit,
thereby inviting reaction and disaster.
As fast as there is any reasonable hope
that in given district the people can
govern themselves self government
has been given in that district. There
Is not locality fitted for self govern
ment which has not received it. But it
may well be that in certain cases it
will have to be withdrawn because the
inhabitants show themselves unfit to
exercise it; such instances have already
occurred. In other words, there is not
the slightest chance Of our failing to
show sufficiently humanitarian spirit.
The danger comes in the opposite direc-
zion.
Troubles Ahead Yet.
There are still troubles ahead in the
islands. The instruction has become
an affair of IoooI bonditti and mara1ld-