The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-12-04

greater than that of our whole countr,
 to-day if the waters that now run t.
 waste were saved and used for irriga
 tlon. The forest and water problem
 are perhaps the most vital interna
 questions of the United States.
 Certain of the forest reserves should
 also be made preserves for the wild for
 est creatures. All of the reserves should
 be better protected from fires. Many o
 them need special protection because , of the great injury done by live stock
 above all by sheep. The increase il
 deer, elk, and otber animals in the Tel
 loWstone Park shows what may be eX l pected when other mountain forests art l properly protected by law and properly guarded. Some of these areas have
 been so denuded of surface vegetation ' by overgrazing that the ground breed Ing birds, including grouse and quail and many mammals, including deer nave been exterminated or driven away At the same time the water-storing ca | pacity of the surface has been decreas- l ed or destroyed, thus promoting floods in times of rain and diminishing the 1 flow of streams between rains.
 
 have been restored for few years, vegetation has again carpeted the ground, birds and deer are coming back, and hundreds of persons, especial ly from the immediate neighborhood, come each summer to enjoy the priv ilege of camping Some at least of the forest reserves should afford perpetual protection to the native fauna and flora, safe heavens of refuge to our rapidly diminishing wild animals of the larger kinds. and free camping grounds for the eVer-increasing numbers of men and women who have learned to find rest, health, and recreation in the splendid forests and flower r-clad meadows of our mountains. The forest reserves should be set apart forever for the use and benefit of our people as whole and not sacrificed to the shortsighted greed of a few.
 Irrigation.
 The forests are natural reservoirs. By restraining the streams in flood and re- plenishing them in drought they make possible the use of waters otherwise wasted They prevent the soil from washing, and so protect the storage re- servoirs from filling up with silt. For est conservation is therefore an essen- tial condition of water conservation.
 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 conclusive ly shown to be an undertaking too vast for private effort. Nor can it be best accomplished by the individual States acting alone Far-reaching interstate problems are involved; and the re- sources of single States would often be inadequate. It is properly a national function, at least in some of it's feat ures. It is as right for the National Government to make the streams and rivers of the arid region useful by en- gineering 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 enlargement 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 S it does oth- or 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 a different prob em. Here it is not enough to regulate he 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 i De brought within their reach.
 The pioneer settlers on the arid pub { ic domain chose their homes along streams from which they should them elves divert the water to reclaim their holdings. Such opportunities are prac- ically gone. There remain, however 'ast areas of public land which can be made available for homestead settle nent, but only by reservoirs and main- inc canals impracticable for private en- erprise. These irrigation works should 'e built by the National Government. The lands reclaimed by them should be eserved by the Government for actual ettlers, and the cost of construction hould so far as possible be repaid by he land reclaimed. The distribution of he water, the division of the streams mong irrigators, should be left to the ettlers themselves in conformity with tate laws and without interference rith those laws or with vested rights. he policy of the National Government hould be to aid irrigation in the sev- ral States and Territories in such man. CT as will enable the people in the local to help themselves, and as i'll stimuate needed reforms in the tate laws and regulation governing ir- gation. { The reclamation and settlement of the rid lands will enrich every portion of UT country, just as the settlement of le Ohio and Mississippi valleys rought prosperity to the Atlantic ( tates. The increased demand for man. { factured articles will stimulate indus 'ial production, while wider home mar cts and the trade of Asia will consume I le larger food supplies and effectually l revent Western competition with