The Colfax gazette. [volume] (Colfax, Wash.) 1893-1932, 1901-07-26
o. X. & N. Time Gard,
Save Forests and Store Floods.

Save Forests and Store Floods.
The Twentieth century will be an era
OF mighty achievement, but none greater
than the transformation of arid America
from an uninhabitable waste into fer
tile territory, teeming with a dense and
prosperous population.
AS Secretary of the Interior Hitchcock
has said: THAT this vast acreage,
capable of sustaining and comfortably
supporting, under a proper system OF
irrigation, population of at least So
100000 people. should remain prac-
tically desert, is not in harmony with
the progressive spirit of the age or in
keeping with the possibilities of the
future"
The time is ripe for the accomplish
ment of this great national purpose. So
long as there was an abundance OF I'M
occupied government land open to
homestead settlers which did not require
irrigation to be productive, there was
no reason why the nation should under
take the great work of the reclamation
of the arid region.
But that time has gone by, and now
we see thousands upon thousands OF
homeseekers gathering on the edge of
the kiOwa reservation, waiting, not for
home on the land, but for the chance
to draw lots for one. Many thousands
of these would-be homebuiders will be
turned back with bitter disappointment
in their hearts. A few fortunate ones
will possess the promised land.
And Uncle Sam" has a hundred
million acres left of his great farm which
he can subdivide among his children,
and give to every Industrious man who
wants a home on the land a chance to
get it, for a generation yet to come, if
congress will heed the demands of the
people, and inaugurate a sound and
sensible policy for the reclamation and
settlement of the arid public domain.
The obstacles in the way are being
rapidly overcome. The east, as the re-
suit of the persistent educational cam
paign which has been carried on by the
National Irrigation Association for the
last two years, is becoming thoroughly
awakened to the gigantic possibilities OF
the increase Of our national wealth and
prosperity, the enlargement of the home
market for our manufacturers, the
opening up of opportunities for employ
ment for our workers, and for home
seekers to get land, through the build.
ing by the national government of the
great storage reservoirs and mainline
canals which are necessary to bring the
water within reach of settlers
The people of the west, and the people
OF the whole country, have repudiated
state cession, and will refuse to be led
into the shoals and quicksands of any
scheme which would turn the control OF
the solution of this great problem over
to state politicians or state legislatures,
or put any impediments in the way OF
the settler who desires to go upon the
public land and build his home there.
Where can there be found a subject
more fitted to arouse the enthusiasm
and pride of every American citizen than
the transformation of this vast desert
region into happy and prosperous HON es
for many millions more of patriotic
American citizens.
And if we are to accomplish this great
result, we must take as the slogan OF
the movement "Savp the forests and
store the floods" The preservation OF
the forests is of first Importance. We
must remember always the old Arab
saying that "The tree is the mother OF
the fountain" With the experience OF
the past before us. we know that the de-
struction of the forests means the de-
struction of the water supplies, and no t
only present desolation, but hopeless
aridity.
The forests are natures storage
reservoirs. Without them artificial
storage reservoirs will be useless. But
If we will not only preserve the forests,
but also store the food waters, that
now go to waste, in great reservoirs
where they can be utilized for irrigat ton.
and for power for all industrial pur.
poses, we can create in the western hall
OF the United States an addition to our
national wealth and resources which
will double it. 1t is idle to talk of this
great work being accomplished by pri-
Vate capital or private enterprise. 1t ia
national problem just as much as
were the dikes of Holland, or the great
Nile dam, or the irrigation works Of
India. 1t is the creation of q countr,
where there was none before.
"hlle without doubt the great drouth
In the corn country will be water unon