The Florence tribune., 1901-08-03
STORE THE FLOODS
And Save the Forests is the Theme ofan
 interesting Address.

Stcch, OOlorduO, Dy OcotSS II. bloA- well, executive chairman of the Ma tional Irrigation Association:
 The twentieth century will be an era of mighty achievement, but none greater than the transformation of arid America from an uninhabitable waste into fertile territory, teeming with dense and prosperous popular ton.
 As Secretary of the Interior Hitch cock has said: seThat this vast acreage, capable of sustaining and comfortably supporting under proper system of irrigation, population of at least 50,- 900, 900 people, should remain practical ly desert, is not in harmony with the progressive spirit of the age in keep ing 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 unoccupied government land open to homestead settlers, which did not re- quire irrigation to be productive, there was no reason why the nation should undertake the great work of the recla- nation 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 homeouilders will be turned back with bitter disappoint- ment in their hearts. A few fortunate ones will possess the promised land.
 And Uncle Sam" has hundred million acres left of his great farm which he can subdivide among his chil- dren, and give to every industrious man who wants home on the land chance to get it, for generation vet to come, if congress will heed the de- mands of the people, and inaugurate a sound and sensible policy for the recla- nation and settlement of the arid pub lie 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 l possibilities of the increase of our pa. tional wealth and prosperity, the en- largement of the home market for our manufacturers, the opening up of op portunities for employment of oui workers, aud for homeseekers to get 1 land ,, through the building by the na tional government of the great storage reservoirs and mainline canals whicl are necessary to bring the water with in reach of settlers.
 The people of the West, and the peo 1 pie of the whole country, have repudi ated state cession, and will refuse t.
 be led into the shoals and quicksand
 of any scheme which would turn tn control of the solution of this grea
 problem over to state politicians 0
 state legislatures, or put any impedi ments in the way of the settler wh desires to go upon the public land an
 build his home there.
 Where can there be found subjec more fitted to arouse the enthusiast and pride of every American citize than the transformation of this va: . desert region into happy and prosper
 ous homes for many millions more patriotic American citizens?
 And if we are to accomplish tn Igreat result, we must take as u
 slogan of the movement, "Save Il
 forests and store the fioods." IT
 preservation of the forests is of fir
 importance. We must remember a ways the old Arab saying that "Tl
 tree is the mother of the fountain
 With the experience of the past befo ', us, we know that the destruction
 the forests means the destruction
 the water supplies, and not only pr,
 ent desolation, but hopeless aridity. ' The forests are nature's stora reservoirs. Without them artific
 storage reservoirs will be useless.
 if we will not only preserve the flores
 but also store the flood waters tl now go to waste, in great reserve
 where they can be utilized for irrif aa tion and for power for all industr e purposes, we can create in the weste 2, half of the United States an additi
 to our national wealth and resour,
 which will double it. It is idle to ta ,m of this great work being accomplish IT, by private capital or private enterpri d. It is national problem just US mr mt as were the dikes of Holland, or mi great Nile dam, or the irrigation wol as of India. It is the creation of col ra- try where there was none before.
 A Trying Moment.