River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1901-12-05

scientific bureaus generally should be put
under the department OF agriculture. The
president should have by law the power
Of transferring lands for use as forest re-
serves to the department OF agriculture.
He already has such power in the case of
lands needed by the departments Of war
Irrigation.
Irrigation in connection with the waste
lands OF the west is a question 10 which
the president gives considerable attention,
ana makes strong recommendations for
government assistance in retaining the
waste lands by assisting in their irriga-
ton ana the control OF water rights Wher-
ever that IS possible, and of this ne says:
In the arid region it is water, not land,
which measures production. The western
half Of the United States would sustain
population greater than that OF our whole
country To-Day II the waters that now run
70 waste were saved and used for irriga-
ton. The forest and water problems are
perhaps the most vital internal questions
OF the United States.
In cases where natural conditions have
been restored for few years vegetation
mas again carpeted the ground, birds and
deer are coming back, and hundreds of
persons, especially from the immediate
nelshOorhoOdl 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
nora, safe Ravens of refuge to our rapidly
diminishing wild animals of the larger
KINDS and Tree camping grounds for the
ever-increasing numbers OF men and wom-
en- who have learned to find rest health
and recreation in the splendid forests and
noWer-clad meadows of our mountains.
The forest reserves should be set apart
forever Tor the use and benefit of our peo-
pie as a whole and not sacrificed TO the
sh!!o!Ir,itsighted greed of few
me forests alone cannot, however, fully
regulate and conserve the waters of the
arid region. Great storage works are nee
essary 10 eq9aIZe the flow Of streams and
| 70 save the flood waters. Their construc-
ton has been cOnclusively shown to be an
Undertaking too vast for private effort.
Nor can IL be best accomplished by the in
dIyldual states acting alone. Far-reaching
! interstate problems are involved, and the
resources of single states would often be
Inadequate. 1t is properly a national
function, at least in some of it's features.
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
/ headwaters of our rivers is but an en-
largement Of our present policy of river
control under which levees are built on
the lower reaches of the same streams.
The government should construct and
maintain these reservoirs as it does other
regulate the flow 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 flow.
The reclamation and settlement of the
arid lands will enrich every portion of
our country, Just as the settlement of the
Ohio and Mississippi valleys brought pros
perity TO the Atlantic states. The in
creased demand for manufactured arti-
Giles viii stimulate industrial production,
while wider home markets ! the trade
of Asia will consume the larger food sup
plies and effectually prevent western
competition with eastern agriculture. In
deed. the products of irrigation Will be
consumed chiefly in upbuilding local CEN
ters 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
at the beginning, but advises that we let
experience on small plan 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
created depend largely on the stability of
titles to water, but the majority of these
rest on the uncertain foundation of court
decisions rendered in ordinary suits at
law. With a few creditable exceptions,
the arid states have failed to provide for
the certain and just division Of streams in
times of scarcity. Lax and uncertain laws
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 control
equivalent 10 ownership.
whoever controls a stream practically
controls the land 1t 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.
should give way to q more enlightened and
larger recognition of the rights of the pub
lie in the control and disposal of the pub
lie water supplies. Laws founded upon
conditions obtaining in humid regions,
where water is too abundant to justify
boarding IT, have no proper application in
a dry country.
In the arid states the only right to water
which should be recognized Is that of use.
the land reclaimed and be inseparable
therefrom- Granting perpetual water
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
section of the message begins by citing
the needs of Hawaii and Porto Rico, of
which he says:
In Hawaii cur aim must be to develop
the territory on the traditional American
lines. We do not wish a region of large
estates titled by cheap labor. We wish a
healthy American community of men
who themselves till the farms they own.
All our legislation for the islands should
be shaped with this end in view. The well
being of the average homemaker must
afford the true test of the healthy deVel-
opment of the islands. The land policy
should as nearly as possible be modelled
on our homestead system"
or Porto Rico he says the island Is thriv-
ing az never before and is being admins
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
Cuba the independent government of the
island will soon be In control and in the
same connection urges strongly the need
of reciprocal trade relations with the new
nation, upon which subject he says:
"In the case of Cuba there are weighty
reasons Of morality and of national inter-
est why the policy should be held to have
a peculiar application, and most earnest
~ ask your attention to the wisdom, indeed
10 the vital need, of providing for a sub
stantial reduction in the tariff duties on
Cuban imports into the United States.
we desired that she should stand in inter-
lv relations with as than with any other
Grafton OF honor and eXpediency TO pass
commercial measures In the interest or
her material well being"
For the Philippines he recommends much
in the way of legislation. but again coun-
-. IA 1.