The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-02-11
Das e! e aolc
M. M. MURDOCH. Editor.
A WESTERN MANS PRAISE OF THE PRESIDENT.

WESTERN MANS PRAISE OF THE PRESIDENT
Mr. Paul Morton did not his position of of
the most potent officials the greatest of Amer
lean corporations as the son of member Of President
ceveands cabinet but of individual mental grasp
and force of character In being man, full Of
the restless energy so characteristic this progressive
eecton he is fully abreast enterprisng spirit. AS
vice president Of the Senta system only
in authority to its supreme head with whom divides
many responsibilities Western men who are equal to
their environment prove superior men and rule under
stand and appreciate in more comprehensive way than
does the eastern this countrys present status and
magnitude as a whole and its future possibilities. Mr.
Norton who mpressing his individuality those
with whom is in contact understands and that
which so many eastern railway magnates fail Of compre
hending that the comprising the Middle
or Central West of today. That the states lying
between the AIleghenes the Rockies between the
Lakes and the Gulf are destined the very future
not only to be recognized as the heart of the
American continent but its financial political and material
dominant To this is bending all his mental
forces and experience is for the extending of the
the broadening the policies Of the system Of
the great transportation with which he is prom
nently identified is because of this activity figure
and factor many interests and enterprises Of the trans
Mississippi whose promoters are hardly of either
his potency or identity OF the West believing in the
West and correctly estimating Importance and
probable donancy of the West its aspira
tons and development in no uncertain way Still the
sunny of life physically strong and mentally unim
paired. he Will doubtless live many of the ends for
which contending fully achieved The Associated
Press dispatches of but day since announced
that he had been commissioned acquire the Mexican
Central railway as an adjunct or extension the Atcison
system which Mexican railway reaches from the American
border at Ell Paso to the City Mexico besides ramify
ing the entire country republic Mr. Morton is in
Mexico now on such mission Should he succeed it is
Utopan dream to expect that the Fe viii eventu
ally be pushed on through Central into South Amer
lea as it was pushed to the Pacific and to the Gulf
But much of all this is aside purpose Of this
tce further than is cited the fact greater
than is comprehended by the political financial leaders
of this country at large and that the fact destined
to cut much more important figure is appreciated by
Mr. Morton The National Magazine quoting and com
mending Vice President Morton for western ideas
quotes him follows:
q ten you" Mr. Morton said "the Presidents mes
sage was generally satisfactory that portion in regard
irrigation was extremely gratifying western people
DO you know that onerd entire area the United
States exclusive Alaska, is public land that by
irrigation over 10000OO0O acres of be changed from
aridity fertility?
arid America under proper treatment, viii sustain
greater population than the whole United States today
About onehaf of land is west of the nney-eighth
meridian yhe population by the of 1890 east of
the ninetyeghth meridian 100000; west, !
44040O0.
THE government owns most Of the arid land and
business proposition afford spend a great deal
Of money in experimenting with reservoirs and other
to make the land marketable. But there seems
to be some opposition among members Of Congress who
represent agricultural districts the Middle States They
claim liberal appropriations for irrigation purposes viii
create agricultural land which come into direct
competition with the products Of their constituents This
is not a broad view of the case.
What the United States needs is internal expansion
The fertile western plains become the more people
they viii sustain and the greater the demand kinds
Of products The cheaper the people of the Rocky noun
tain region be fed a class the more development
there viii be in mineral Very few of the products
of the irrigated farms would in competition with
eastern products The Of freight alone pre-
vent this Surplus cereals of the West absorbed
by the great market now opening in China and Japan
President Roosevelt is by far the posted man on
affairs that has ever occupied the White House
Tie needs the West and IS more directly in
touch with its demands and interests than any Of bis
predecessors He is well qualified judge what should
be done by the government with the re-
camaton of arid lands"
RELIEF FROM RAILWAY DISCRIMINATION.