Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1901-12-05

4 Inc government SnOQlQ see 10 IL tn3I
within its jurisdiction this is so and
should provide a speedy. inexpensive and
effective remedy to that end. At the same
railways are the arteries through which
the commercial lifeblood of this nation
flows. Nothing could be more foolish than
the enactment of legislation which would
unnecessarily interfere with the develop
ment and operation of these commercial
agencies"
Agricultural Interests.
The president cites the forest legislation
of the past and the great good OF forest
Inevitably be Of stiff greater value. Con-
present the protection of the forest
the mapping and description of their tim
Der with the United States geological sur
Conservative use with the bureau of for
estry. which is also charged with the gen
e6a G 9dEaac sFafes. OF T Rraesie var Iousst fgn en
lions should be united in the bureau Of
The present diffusion of responsibility is
bad from every standpoint. 1t prevent
that effective cooperation between the
| government and the men who utilize the
resources of the reserves. without which
the interests of both must suffer. The
under the department of agriculture. The
president should have by law the power
of transferring lands for use as forest re-
He already has such power in the case OF
lands LAM needed by the departments of war
Irrigation.
Irrigation in connection with the waste
lands OF the west is a question to which
the president gives considerable attention,
and makes strong recommendations Tor
government assistance in retaining the
waste lands by assisting in their irr1ga-
ton and the control of water rights wher-
ever that is possible, and of this he says:
In the arid region it is water, not land.
half of the United States would sustain a
population greater than that OF our whole
| C01In1rV fn-G2V If IN vrafHrS hat now rIln
to waste were saved and used for irriga-
ton The forest and water problems are
perhaps the most vital internal questions
of the United States.
I'm cases where natural conditions have
been restored for q few years vegetation
mas again carpeted the ground, birds and
deer are coming back, and hundreds of
persons, especially from the immediate
nelghborhood come each summer to enjoy
the privilege of camping. Some at least
of the forest reserves should afford per-
petual protection to the native fauna and
flora, safe Ravens of refuge to our rapidly
diminishing wild animals of the larger
kinds and free camping grounds for the
eVer-lncreaslng numbers of men and wom-
en- who have learned to find rest, health
and recreation in the splendid forests and
The forest reserves should be set apart
forever for the use and benefit of our peo-
pie as a whole and not sacrificed to the
shoEtsighted greed of a few"
The forests alone cannot, however, fully
regulate and conserve the waters of the
arid region. Great storage works are nee
essary to equalize the flow of streams and
to save the flood waters. Their construc-
ton has been conclusively shown to be an
undertaking too vast for private effort.
Nor can it be best accomplished by the in
dividual states acting alone. Far-reaching
resources of single states would often be
inadequate. 1t is properly a national
1t is as right for the national government
to make the streams and rivers of the
arid region useful by engineering works
for water storage as to make useful the
rivers and harbors of the humid region by
engineering works of another kind. The
storing of the floods in reservoirs at the
h~eadwaters of our rivers is but an en-
largement of our present policy of river
control under which 1evees are built on
the lower reaches of the same streams
THE government should construct and
maintain these reservoirs as it does other
regulate the fow of 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 now
The reclamation and settlement OF the
arid lands will enrich every portion of
our country, Just as the settlement OF the
perity to the Atlantic states. The IN
creased demand for manufactured arLi-
cleS will stimulate industrial production,
while wider home markets and the trade
of Asia will consume the larger food sup
competition with eastern agriculture: In
deed, the products of irrigation viii be
tiers of mining and other industries which
would otherwise not come into existence
at all. Our people as a whole will profit.
for successful homemaking is but another
name for the ~upbuilding of the nation"
He %counsels against attempting too much
AZ sxn tne Degi on a small paul a ban teach the pos
sibilities of greater undertakings He also
cites the conditions under which the set
tiers of the west are attempting to build
homes on these arid lands, and says:
THE security and value of the homes
titles to water, but the majority-of these
rest on the uncertain f~oundation of court
d de Nth renee a fs sa d IN HTai oIe sxe eelai st
the arid states have failed to provide for
the certain and just division OF streams in
have made it possible to establish rights |
to water in excess of actual uses or ne
cessities. and many streams have already
passed into private ownership or a control
equivalent to ownership.
controls the land it renders productive, and
the doctrine of private ownership Of water
apart from land cannot prevail without
of such ownership. which has been per-
mitted to grow up in the arid regions.
larger recognition of the rights of the pub
lie in the control and disposal of the pub
lie water supplies; Laws founded upon
where water is too abundant to justify
boarding it, have no proper application in
a dry country.
'ln the arid states the only right to water
which, should be recognized is that of use.
In irrigation this right should attach to
NAG ACAA4 @A0
rights to other than users without
compensation to the public is open to all
the objections which apply to giving away
perpetual franchises to the, public utili-
ties of the cities. A few of the western
states have already recognized this and
have Incorporated in their constitutions
the doctrine of perpetual state ownership
of water"
The Colonies.
Considerable attention is given the col
onies, and especially the Philippines. This
the needs of Hawaii and Porto Rico, of
he says:
I'm Hawaii our aim must be to develop
the territory IN the traditional American
titled by cheap labor. We wish q
American community of men
who themselves till the farms they own.
our legislation for the islands should
be shaped with this end in view. The well
being of the average homemaker must
afYord the true test of the healthy devel-
opment of the islands. The land policy
as nearly as possible be modelled
on our homestead system"
OF Porto Rico he says the island is thriv-
tered efficiently and honestly. He deems
no legislation necessary except that con-
corning the public lands of the island.
He calls attention to the fact that in
the independent government of the
will soon be in control, and in the
same connection urges strongly the need
of reciprocal trade relations with the new
upon which subject he says:
I'm the case of Cuba there are weighty
reasons of morality and of national inter
sst why the policy should be held to have
a peculiar application, and l most earnest
" ask your attention to the wisdom, indeed
to the vital need, of providing for q sub
sfantial reduction in the tariff duties on
vr,ha- N1n4~4G snfR tho rff 49,