The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1901-12-07

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
and the navy"
Irrigation.
Irrigation in connection with the waste
lands OF the west is a question to when
the president gives considerable attention,
and makes strong recommendations Tor
government assistance in retaining the
waste lands by assisting in their irriga-
ton and the control of water rights wher-
ever that is possible, and of this he says:
In the arid region it is water, not land,
which measures production. The western
half Of the United States would sustain a
population greater than that CT our whole
country to-day ii the waters that now run
to 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 a few years vegetation
has again carpeted the ground, birds and
deer are coming back. and hundreds of
persons, especially from the immediate
neighborhood, come each summer to enjoy
the privilege of camping. Some at least
of the forest reserves should afford per-
flora, safe Ravens of refuge to our rapidly
diminishing wild animals of the larger
kinds and free 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
tlower-clad meadows of our mountains.
Inc forest reserves SnOulQ be set apart
forever for the use and benefit of our peo-
pie as a whole and not sacrificed to the
shortsighted greed of a few"
The forests alone cannot. however, fully
regulate and conserve the waters of the
arid region. Great storage works are nee
essary to equalize the flow of streams and
to save the flood waters. Their construc-
ton has been conclusively shown to be an
undertaking too vast for private effort.
Nor can it be best accomplished by the in
dividual states acting alone. Far-reaching
| [ N . & ! "A 4 n trah1nvNo n w t~xFAl.A1 A~l ~
resources of single states would often be
Inadequate. 1t Is properly a national
function, at least in some of its 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
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
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 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-
cles will stimulate industrial production,
while wider home markets and 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
tiers of mining and other industries which
would otherwise not come into existence
at all: Our people as q whole VIII proht.
name for the upbuilding of the nation"
He counsels against attempting too much
at the beginning, but advises that We let
experience on a 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:
1.-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 streama 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 a control
equivalent to ownership.
"Whoever controls a stream practically
controls the land it renders productive, and
the doctrine of private ownership of water
apart from land cannot prevail without
causing enduring wrong. The recognition
OIL SuCn ownership, WHICH mas DeGl per-
mitted to grow up in the arid regions,
should give way to a more enlightened and
larger recognition of the rights of the pub
lie in the control and disposal of the pub
conditions obtaining in humid regions.
where water is too abundant to justify
boarding 1t, have no proper application In
a dry country.
"In the arid states the only right to water
which should be recognized is hat of use.
In irrigation this right should attach to
tha LAND rna1niTnGd nn6 Ia ~
rights to other than users without
compensation TO. the public is open to all
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:
I'm Hawaii our 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
| af1OrQ the true test OF the nedltny QeVel-
opment of the islands. The land policy
should as nearly as possible be modelled
on our homestead system"
OF Porto Rico he says the island is thriv-
ing as 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
ly ask your attention to the wisdom, indeed
to the vital need, of providing for a sub
stantial reduction in the tariff duties on
Cuban Imports into the United States
Cuba has In her constitution affirmed what
we desired that she should stand in inter.
national matters in closer and more friend
ly relations with us than with any Other
power, and we are bound by every consid.
GRAFTON of honor and expediency to pass
commercial measures in the interest OF
her material we'll being"
For the Philippines he recommends much
in the way of legislation, but again coun
sells caution that we go neither too far no,
with too great haste. He says: 1--WE hopt
to make our administration of the island,
honorable to our nation by making II of IN,
highest benefit to the Filipinos themselves
and as an earnest of what we intend to d,
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