Waterbury Democrat., 1901-12-03
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.
(Continued from Page One)

NOON@e%--~N~N In many respects the national bank. ing law furnishes sufficient liberty fol the proper exercise of the banking function, but there seems to be need of better safeguards against the de ranging influence of commercial crises and financial panics. Moreover, the currency of the country should be made responsive to the demands of our domestic trade and commerce.
 Economy in expenditures is urged Amendment of the interstate commerce act is advised to insure the cardinal provisions of that act The work car ried on by the department of agricul- ture is next considered and praised highly. The president then turns to forest preservation and irrigation of arid lands, saying that both are highly necessary. He would put all the work in connection with the forest reserves in charge of the bureau of forestry.
 Irrigation.
 The president continues by tracing the connection between the forest re- serves and the water supply. He says:
  By restraining the streams ill flood and replenishing them in drought they make possible the use of waters other wise wasted. They prevent the soil from washing and so protect the stor- age reservoirs from filling up with silt Forest conservation is. therefore, an essential condition of water conser- vation
 The forests alone cannot, however, fully regulate and conserve the waters of the arid region. Great storage works are necessary 2 equalize the flow of streams and to save the flood waters. Their construction has been conclu- siyely shown to be an undertaking too vast for private effort. Nor can it be best accomplished by the individual states acting alone. 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 ill the dry season to take the same course under the same laws as the natural dow
 The reclamation of the unsettled arid public lands presents a different prob lem. Here it is not enough to regulate the 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 be brought within their reach.
 The pioneer settlers on the arid pub lie domain chose their homes along streams from which they could them selves divert the water to reclaim their holdings. Such opportunities are prac- tically gone. There remain, however vast areas of public land which can be made available for homestead settle ment, but only by reservoirs and main line canals impracticable for private enterprise. These irrigation works should be built by the national govern ment The lands reclaimed by them should be reserved by the government for actual settlers, and the cost of con- struction should, so 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 
 out interference with those laws or with vested rights.
 The declaration is made that in the arid states the only right to water which should be recognized is that of use. The president says that the doc Urine of private ownership of water apart from land cannot prevail without causing wrong
 InsuIar Problems.
 Insular questions are next treated. Tn Hawaii our aim must be to develop the territory on the traditional Amer jean lines Porto Rico is declared to be thriving as never. before. The atten. ton of congress is called to the need of legislation concerning the islands pub lie lands. In Cuba it is stated that much progress has been made toward putting the independent government Of the island upon firm footing, and it is declared that independence will be an accomplished fact. The president adds:
 Elsewhere l have discussed the ques- tion of reciprocity. In the case of Gu ba, however, there are weighty reasons of morality and of national interest why the policy should be held to have q peculiar application, and I most ear nestly ask your attention to the wis dom, indeed to the vital need, of pro- vidine for a substantial reduction in the tariff duties on Cuban imports into the United States.
 In dealing with the Philippine peo- pie We must show both patience and strength, forbearance and steadfast res olution. Our aim is high. We do not desire to do for the islanders merely what has elsewhere been done for trop- ic peoples by even the best foreign governments. We hope toSdo for them what has never before been done for any people of theN tropics-to make them fit for self government after the fashion of the really free nations
 The only fear is lest in our oyeranx- iety we give them a degree of inde- pendence for which they are unfit, thereby inviting reaction and disaster. As fast as there is any reasonable hope that in a given district the people can govern themselves self government has been given in that district. There is not locality fitted for self govern ment which has not received it. But it may well be that in certain cases it