Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1901-12-12

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 un-
der the same laws as the natural flow.
| The reclamation of the unsettled arid
public lands presents different problem.
Here 1t is not enough to regulate the now
of streams. Tho object of the government
Is to dispose of the land to settlers who VIII
build homes upon It. TO accomplish this
reach
There remain vast areas of public land
which can be made available for homestead
settlement. but only by reservoirs and main
line canals mpracticable for private enter
prise. These irrigation works should be
| built by the national government. The
lands reclaimed by them should be reserved
| by the government for actual settlers, and
the cost of construction should so far as
| possible be repaid by the land reclaimed.
The distribution of the water, the division
| Of the streams among irrlgators, should be
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 communities to help
The reclamation and settlement of the
arid lands will enrich every portion of our
country, just the settlement of the Ohio
to the Atlantic states. The increased de-
mand for manufactured articles will stlmu.
late Industrial production, while wider home
markets and the trade of Asia will consume
the larger food supplies and effectually pre-
vent western competition with eastern ag-
riculture.
Whatever the nation does for the extern
sion of irrigation should harmonze with,
and tend to improve. the condition of those
! the starting point of this development.
over S20O.000.0o0, Of private capital has al:
of arid land reclaimed. A high degree of
enterprise and ability has been shown in
the work itself; but as much cannot be said
in reference to the laws relating thereto.
| The security and value of the homes cr2-
ated depend largely on the stability of titles
the uncertain foundation of court decisiGOs
rendered in ordinary suits at law.
In the arid states the only right to water
which should be recognized is that of use.
! In irrigation this right should attach to the
land reclaimed and be inseparable therefrpm.
| Granting perpetual water rights to others
than users, without compensation to the
! public, Is open to all the objections which
apply to giving away perpetual franchises
to the public utilities of cities.
Our aim should be not simply to reclaim
| the largest area of land and provide homes
ate for this new industry the best possible
social and Industrial conditions; and this
requires that we not only understand the
| existing situation but avail ourselves of the
best experience of the time in the solution
HAWAii, PORTO RICO AND CUBA.
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| territory on the traditional American lines.
} We do not wish region of large estates
TILED by cheap labor we wish xbo healthy tbtm
! selves 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 home-maker must afford the
| true test of the healthy development of the
| Islands. The land policy should as nearly
! system.
1t is a pleasure to say that it is hardly
more necessary to report as to Porto Rico
continental limits. The island Is thriving
as never before, and it is being administered
efficiently and honestly. Its people are now
enjoying liberty and order under the pro-
| lection of the United States, and upon this
fact we congratulate them and ourselves. |
ask the attention of congress to the need
of legislation concerning the public lands
of Porto Rico.
toward putting the Independent government
of the island upon a firm footing that before
the present session of congress closes this
Will be an accomplished fact. Elsewhere l
have discussed the question of reciprocity.
! In the case of Cuba, however, there are
weighty reasons why the policy should be
most earnestly ask your attention to the
Susnn % of RSevdqS fEr s oa aban m
ports into the United States.
THE PHILIPPINES.
In the Philippines our problem Is larger.
! They are very rich tropical islands, inhabit-
ed by many varying tribes, representing
widely different stages of progress toward
| civilization: Our earnest effort is to help
! these people upward along the stony and
! difficult path that leads to self-government.
! We hope to make our administration Of the
! islands honorable to our nation by making
| 1t Of the highest benefit to the Filipinos
themselves; and as an earnest of what we
! intend to do. we point to what we have
done. Already a greater measure of ma
! terlaI prosperity aad of governmental hon
! esty and efficiency has been attained in the
! Philippines than ever before In their history.
! HiGtnTZy IN allnnun6 n show
! q single instance in which a masterful race
such as ours, having been forced by the exi-
land, has behaved to its inhabitants with
the dsnterested zeal for their progress that
our people have shown In the Philippines;
TO leave the islands at this time. would
mean that they would fall into a welter of
| murderous anarchy. Such desertion of duty
on our part would be crime against hui
In our anxiety for the progress of the
| Philippines, 1t may be we have gone too
ment 1t is on this side that our error, if
any. has been committed
The, time has come when, there should
| be additional legislation for the Philippines.
Nothing better can be done for the islands
than TO Introduce industrial enterprises.
! Nothing would benefit them so much, as
ment. 1t is necessary that congress should
pass laws by which the resources Of the
| Islands can be developed; so that franchises
| (for limited terms of years. can be granted
to companies doing business in them, and
| every encouragement be given to the incom-
Ing of business men.
i call your attention most earnestly to
the need of a cable to Hawaii and the Phil
| ippines, to be continued from the Philip
! pines to points in Asia. We should not defer
| a day longer than necessary the construc-
| tion Of such cable.
| THE ISTHMIAN CANAL.
| No single great material work which re-
mains to be undertaken on this continent Is
of such consequence to the American people
as the building of canal across the 18TH
mus connecting North and South America.
Its Importance to the nation is by no means
| limited merely to its material effects upon
our business prosperity: and yet with view
to these effects alone it would be to the
last degree important for us Immediately to
begin Ii. While its beneficial effects would
perhaps be most marked upon the Pacific
/ coast and the gulf and south Atlantic
| sections 1t is emphatcaly work which
! it is for the interest of the entire country
! to begin and complete as soon as possible
| it Is one of those great works which only
] .rrnnt n tinn unlertase with nrnsnects