Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1901-12-03

the pflnclpal countries VIII WHICH VIC
have dealings, would be of political as
well as commercial benefit. From ev-
cry standpoint it is unwise for the
United States TO continue to rely upon
the ships of competing nations for the
distribution of our goods. 1t should be
made advantageous to carry American
goods in American built ships.
At present American shipping is I'M
der certain great disadvantages when
put in competition with the shipping
Of foreign countries. Many of the fast
foreign steamships, at speed Of four
teen knots or above, are subsidized,
and all our ships. sailing vessels and
steamers alike. cargo carriers of slow
speed and mail carriers of high speed,
have to meet the fact that the original
cost of building American ships is
greater than is the case abroad; that the
wages paid American officers and sea
men are very much higher than those
paid the officers and seamen of foreign
competing countries, and thai the
standard of living on our ships is far
superior to the standard of living on
the ships of our commercial rivals. Our
government should take such action as
will remedy these inequalities. The
American merchant marine should be
restored to the ocean.
Financial.
The passage of the act establishing
gold as the standard money has. it is
declared, been shown TO be timely and
! judicious. The president adds:
! In many respects the national bank
! ing law furnishes sufficient liberty for
/ ~, 90 no
| function. but there seems TO be need
of better safeguards against the de-
ranging influence of commercial crises
and financial panics. Moreover. the
currency OF the country should be
made responsive to the demands of our
domestic trade and commerce.
Economy in expenditures is urged.
Amendment of the interstate commerce
act is advised TO insure the cardinal
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 to
forest preservation and irrigation of
arid lands. saying that both are highly
necessary. lie 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
streams and to save the flood 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
! flow of streams. the water should be
turned freely into the channels in the
|
under the same laws as the natural
/ flow.
The reclamation of the unsettled arid
| public lands presents a different prob
| lem. Here it 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
trine of private ownership OF water
apart from land cannot prevail without
causing wrong.
InsuIar Problems.
Insular questions are next treated.
In Hawaii our aim must be to develop
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