The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1902-10-10

49, %SAS ~ - ~ w
found to be the peculiar story Of his
craftsmanship.
"The Inauguration of the national
irrigation policy means a great deal
to all our states It will add immense
ly to their wealth and population and
greatly broaden the basis OF their
prosperity.
1T e even more to the nation
as a whole. 1t opens the way to a new
era Of internal development and do
mestic expansion as great as any sim
liar period Of It's magnificent past. II
is the equivalent to adding a new en-
pire as Independent as that drained
by the Mississippi and it's tributar-
les. But these are not the considera-
lions which are upermost in my mind
as | contemplate the results to flow
from this new policy. 1t is what may
be called the humanitarian aspect of
national irrigation, which Quickens
my pulse and makes me desire to ded-
icate myself anew to the work in
which we are engaged.
Great Work for Humanity.
"The Inauguration of national irri-
cation means that evey family In the
United States who wants a home upon
the soil may have one. 1t e that
the door is open to permit the man
who is not needed where he is to go to.
a place where he is needed. 1t NEAR
the restoration of those automatic
social conditions which in past gen
Grafton relieved the pressure of popu-
lation in the cid centers and con
stantly extended the frontier of civ
ilization toward the north, the south
and the west.
1--WE stand on the threshold of n
other great colonization movement,
made possible by the glorious fact of
national irrigation. 1T is not, how
ever, these broad movements of pop
ulation to which | desire to direct
your attention in the brief time at my
disposal. It is not the dream Of en-
pire that may come to a great nation
with the conquest Of a territory where
in 1O0, 900, 900 will some time dwell
which appeals to my Imagination.
But it is the dream of home and indie
pendence which will come to many a
struggling family when the announce
ment that mere than m fair valley
in arid America has been thrown open
to settlement at the actual cost of re-
clamation. v
Without attempting to elaborate
the idea, l say that there is something
in the heart Of the dullest man who
ever lived that responds to the beau
ties of nature. / firmly believe that
it is this instinct that is sending the
well-to-dcs from the city to the coun-
try, and l believe in the next few
years will make the reclaimed lands
Of the west so much sought after by
the very best elements Of our middle
class population.
The man who rears his sons and
daughters in the rural life of U ir-
rigation empire will give them a bet
ter chance to become useful men and
women than boys and girls will have
when raised in the city; better
chance even than young people enjoy
ed in the brave old days Of which we
read in the biographies of u great
men.
LET me show what l mean. The ir-
rigated farm is necessarily a small
farm. The small farm means plenty
of neighbors and that, in turn, pears.
social advantages which were not
within reach Of. country people in the
boyhood days of Garfield, Lincoln and
others IF their generation. Thc boys
and girls Il srll iEl"fira aill have
the intellectual stimulus which goes
with neighborhood association. Thus
they gain one of the chief advantages
for which SO many are rushing into
the towns. AN
Industrial Independence.
"But this is only half of their adj
vantage. The other half is the in
dustrial independence and the gloriz
GUS contact with nature which come
with life en- the irrigated farms.
What does it mean to the nation to
have millions, of people gradually pass
from the servitude of the town to the
sovereignty of the country? It means,
my friends, the enlistment Of new
army for the defense OF the republic
in every hour Of need. Give q man
a home upon the soil and you have
made the patriot who will defend your
institutions at the ballot box and on
the battlefield. Open the doors OF
the west and you need not worry
about the future. Let the people have