Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1901-12-06

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. He 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-
sivcly shown to be an undertaking
too vast for private effort. Nor can it
he 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
/ dry season to take the same course
under the same laws as the natural
| flow.
The reclamation of the unsettled arid
| public lands presents 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 impracticabe 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
tributon 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 he recognized is that of
use. The president says that the doe
trine of private ownership of water
apart from land cannot prevail without
causing wrong.
InsuInr 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 he
thriving as never before. The atten-
ton of congress is called to the need of
legislation concerning the islands pub
lie lands. In Cuba it is stated that
much progress has been made toward
putting the independent government ol
the island upon Il firm footing. and it is
declared that independence will be al
accomplished fact. The president
adds:
Elsewhere | have discussed the ques
ton of reciprocity. In the case Of Gu
ba. however, there are Weighty reasons
of morality and of national interest
why the policy should be held to have
n peculiar application, and | most ear
nestly ask your attention to the wis
dom. indeed to the vital need. of pro
viding for substantial reduction il
the tariff duties on Cuban imports into
the United States.
In dealing with the Philippine peo
pie we must show both patience anC
strength, forbearance and steadfast res
oluton. Our aim is high. We do moi
desire TO do for the islanders merely
what has elsewhere been done for trop
ic peoples by even the best foreign
governments. We hope to do for then
what has never before been done fol
any people of the tropics--to max,
them fit for self government after thu
fashion of the really free nations.
The only fear is lest in our overanx
iety we give them degree of indie
pendence for which they are unfit
thereby inviting reaction and disaster
AS fast us there is any reasonable hop,
that in a given district the people cal
govern themselves self government
has been given in that district Their,