The age-herald., 1901-12-04


 tween the government and the men wno utilize the resources of the reserves. with out which the interests of both must sui fer. The scientific bureaus generally should be put under the Department of Agriculture. The President should have by law the power Of transferring lands Tor use as forest reserves to the Depart Inent of Agriculture He already hns such power in the case of lands needed by the Departments of War and the Navy.
 The wise administration of the forest reserves will be not less helpful to the interests which depend on water than to those which depend on wood and grass. The water supply itself depends upon the forest. In the arid region 1t is water, not land. which measures production. The western half of the United States would sustain 2 population greater than that of our whol, country today If the waters that now run to waste were saved and used for irrigation. The forest and water problems are perhaps the most vital ln- ternal questions of the United States.
 Certain of the forest reserves should also be made preserves for the wild forest creatures All of the reserves should be better protected from fires Many of them need special protection because of fhe great injury done by live stock-above all,r by sheep The increase in deer, elk and other animals in the Yellowstone Park shows what may be expected when other mountain forests are properly pro- tected by law and properly guarded. Some of these areas have been so denuded of surface vegetation by overgrazing that the ground d-breeding birds, including grouse and quail and many mammals in- cluding deer, have been exterminated or driven away. At the same time the wa ter-storing capacity of the surface has been decreased or destroyed, thus pro- noting floods in times of rain and di- minishing the flow of streams between rains.
 In cases where natural conditions have been restored for 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 petual protection to the native fauna and flora, safe havens of refuge to our rapid ly-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 fower-clad meadows of our mountains. The forest reserves should be set apart forever for the use and bene- fit of our people as a whole, and not sac rificed to the short-sighted greed of a few.
 Irrigation.
 The forests are natural reservoirs. By restraining the streams In flood and re- plenishing them in drouth they make pos sible the use of waters otherwise wasted They prevent the soil from washing, and so protect the storage reservoirs from filling up with silt. Forest conservation is therefore an essential condition of wa ter conservation.
 The forests alone cannot, however fully r yulate 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 con- struction has been conclusively shown to be an undertaking too vast for private ef- fort. Nor can 1t be best accomplished by the individual states acting alone. Far reaching interstate problems are in- volved, and the resources of single states would often be inadequate. It Is properly a national function, at least In some of its features. It is as right for. the na- tienal government to make the streams and rivers of the arid region useful by engineering works for water storage as to make useful the rivers and harbors of the humid region. by engineering works of another kind.r The storing of the floods in reservoirs at the headwaters of our rivers Is but an enlargement of our present polieBnef river control, under which levees seare built on the lower reaches of thesaame 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 wa ter should be turned freely into the chan nels in the dry season to take the same course under the same laws as the nat hral flow. as
 The reclamation of the unsettled arid public lands presents difficult problem. Here it is not enough to regulate the How of streams. The object of the gov ernment is to dispose of the land to set Hers who will build homes upon 1t. To accomplish this object water must be brought within their reach.
 The pioneer settlers on the arid public dcmain chose their homes along streams from which they could themselves divert the water to reclaim their holdings. Such opportunities are practically gone. There remain, however, vast areas of public land which can be made available for homestead settlement, but only by reser- voirs and mainline canals impracticable for private enterprise. These irrigation works should be built by the national government. The lands reclaimed by them should be reserved by the govern ment for actual settlers and the cost of construction should, as 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 without interference with those laws or with vested rights. The policy of the national government should be to aid irrigation in the several states and territories in such manner as will enable the people in the local com munities to help themselves and as will stimulate needed reforms in the state laws and regulations governing irriga- ton.
 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 prosperity to the Atlantic States. The increased demand for manufactured arti- cles will stimulate industrial production, while wider home markets and the trade of Asia will consume the larger food supplies and effectually prevent Western competition with Eastern agriculture. In- deed, the products of irrigation will be consumed chiefly in upbuilding local cen- ters of mining and other industries. which would otherwise not come into ex- istence at all Our people as a whole will profit for successful home-making Is but another name for the upbuilding of the nation.
 The necessary foundation has already been laid for the inauguration of the policy just described. It would be unwise to begin by doing too much, for a great
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