Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1901-12-06

nnder the department of agriculture The
president should have by law the power
Of transferring lands for use as forest re-
serves to the department of agriculture:
He already has such power in the case of
an sb NEEDED by the departments OF war
Irrigation.
Irrigation in connection with the waste
aEos OF the west is a question to which
the president gives considerable attention.
aha makes sIrong Recommendation Tor
waste lands nv ssSiSrin1 in their iTrierT-
tion and The control Oh water rights Wher-
aver that Is possible. and OF THIS he says:
In the arid region IL is water, not land,
winch measures production. The western
aalf of the United States wou.o sustain a
country TO-DAY IL the waters that now run
10 waste were saved and used tor irrlsa-
.ion E me 1oresl ana water propieins are
perhaps the most vital internal questions
u the United States.
In cases where natural conditions have
been restored for a few years vegetation
has again carpeted the ground, birds and
oeer are coming back. AND hundreds of
persons, especially from the immediate
nelShberhoOd, 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
iora, safe Ravens of refuge to our rapidly
diminishing wild animals of the larger
KINGS and free camping grounds for the
eVer-increasinG numbers men and wom-
en- who have learned to find rest, health
Aower-clad meadows or our mountains.
Inc forest reserves should be set apart
pie as whole and not sacrificed to the
shortsighted greed of few
PIE ne forests alone cannot, however, fully
regulate and conserve the waters of the
arid region. Great storage works are nee
essary to eQualiZe the now of streams and
to save the flood waters. Their construc-
ton has been conclusively shown to be an
undertaking too vast for private effort
dividual states acting alone. Far-reaching
interstate problems are involved. and the
81
function, at least in some of It's features.
1t is as right for the national government
ARID region useful by engineering works
Tor 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 ard
maintain these reservoirs as it docs other
public works. Where their purpose is to
regulate the flow of streams the water
in the dry season to take the same course
under the same laws as the natural flow;
The recld nation 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 fer manufactured aru-
cies will stimulate industrial production,
while wider home markets and the trade
Of Asia will consume the larger food sup
plies and effectualiy prevent western
competition with eastern agriculture. In
deed, the products OF irriga ton will be
consumed chiefly in upbuil0inS local CEN
ters of mining and other industries which
would otherwise not come into existence
at all. Our people as a whole will profit.
for successful homemaking is but another
name for the upDui.Olng OF the EaIlGn-
He couEs6ls against attempting too much
at the beginning, but advises that we let
sibilities of greater undertakings, He also
cites the conditions under which the set,
homes er 81 on til these arid lands. and says:
1.-The security and value OF the homes
created depend largely on the sta 81 tb OF
rest on the uncertain foundation of court
decisions rendered in ordinary suits at
the arid states have failed to provide for
the certain and just division of streams in
have made it possible to establish rights
to water in excess of actual uses or ne
eessities. and many streams have already C
equivalent to ownership
whoever controls a stream practically
the doctrine of private ownership of water
apart from land cannot prevail without
of such ownership, which has been per
mitted to grow up in the arid regions
gxs no Of the ehtag of the pu
lie in the control and disposal of the pub
lie water supplies. Laws founded upon
where water is too abundant to justify
hoa riding it. have no proper application In
a dry country.
.'In the arid states the only right to water
which should be recognized is that of use.
the land reclaimed and be inseparable
sbfa To otbsr fan w6I
the objections which apply, to giving away
perpetual franchises. to the public utili-
states have already recognized this and
the doctrine of perpetual state ownership
The Colonies.
Considerable attention is given the col
onies, and especially the Philippines. This
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
who themselves till the farms they own.
All our legislation for the islands should
be shaped with this end in view. The well
AFFORD the true test of the healthy devel-
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 thrivr
ing never before a ana ha Is 6einE ad minis
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:
I'm 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 1 most earnest
" ask your attention to the wisdom. indeed
to the vital need. of providing for a sub
stantiai 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 well being"
For the Philippines he recommends much
In the way of legislation, but again coun
sels caution that we go neither too Tar mol
with too gfeat-haste- He says: 1--WE hons