The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-05-30

home range and stock industry And it is
the same in dealing with our forest re
serves. Almost every industry depends in
some more or less vital way upon the
preservation OF the forests And while
citizens die, the government and the ma
ton do not die and we are bound to use
such foresight in using our forests and
ranges as will keep them for those who
I are to come after US. The first great
object or the whole land policy OF the
United States is the creation Of homes,
Of faVOring the home maker And that
I is why we wish to provide for the home
makers or the present and the future
steady. continuous supply of timber,
grass, and above all, of water.
Ihat IS the object of the forest reserves,
cooperation in their preservation. And,
remember you must realize that however
abstract. il could be enforced Onlysif the
people Of the state believed in it. We
reserve law or any other law only so far
as the best sentiment OF the community
or the state viii permit that enforcement;
ara there II lies, not with the people at
Washington, but with YOU yourselves to
see that such policies are supported as
viii actually tend 70 the benefit of the
home-nlakers and the sure and steady
building OF our state as a whole
Question of Irrigation.
And now one word as to the greatest
question with which our people as whole
have 70 deal in the matter of internal
development today, the question of lrrl-
cation Not in recent years has any
more important law been put upon the
statute books Of the federal government
than the law, a year ago. providing for
the first time that the national govern
Z ment should interest itself in aiding and
oLIilulI-S - - 9CSI-l % LtliSatSG go
3 culture OF the ROCKY mountain ana pam
states. And here the government had, to
a degree, sat At the feet OF Gamaliel IN
the person of Utah, for what you had
done and learned was of incaIcuIable
benefit to those who engaged in framing
and getting through the national irrlga-
For irrigation was first practiced on
large scale in this state The necessity
of the pioneers here led to the develop
ment OF irrigation to a degree absolutely
/ unknown before upon this continent and
in no respect was the wisdom of the early
pioneers made more evident than in the
sedulOus care they took to provide for
small farms carefully titled by those who
lived on and benefited from them And
hence it comes about that the average
: amount of land required to support the
family in Utah is smaller than in any
other part of the United States. ZAP
piause) Because We all know that Wnen
we once get irrigation practically applied
rain is very poor substitute for it.
Government Must Cooperate.
Now the federal government must CO.
. operate with Utah and Utah's people for
the further extension of the irrigation
area Many of the smaller problems OF
obtaining a water supply have already
been solved and 50 well solved that, as
I said many-sOme of the most important
provisions of the federal act, such as the
control Of irrigation works by the COM
munities which they serve, such as
making the water appurtenant to the
land, and not a source for speculation
apart from the land-all of that was
based upon the experience of Utah. OF
course, the control or the larger streams
which flow through more than one state
must come under the federal government.
Now many of the great projects which
are ultimately so to enlarge the irrlgable
area, which arc Ultimately to so in
crease its population and its wealth, are
surrounded with intricate complications,
because or the high development Whlcn
irrigation has already reached in this
state Necessarily the federal govern
ment officers in charge of these ques-
tons must proceed with great caution. so
as not to disturb personal vested rights.
But subject to that they viii go forward
as fast as they safely can.
They now are eager 10 seen cOnStruc-
ton work begun in the arid region, but
they realize, and all men who have ac-
tually done irrigation work here among
those / am addressing viii realize that
no man IS more cOnstderate than the
practical irrigator in regard to any
ton lie wants 20 look Wen before ne
leaps he has learned by trying eXpe-
rience what damage can come from well
meant changes hastily made You Know
YOU viii lind that al through life L
thoroughly distrust hardness of heart,
but 1 have more profound d1strust for
softness of head; and the damage Of the
t0ne is no greater than the damage done
by the other: and that applies not only
70 irrigation put 10 various forms OF PM
1anthrOpy as well.
VIII Be Federal Help.
The government can do a good deal
The government will do a good deal. But
your experience here in Utah has shown
that the greatest results which are ac
complished must spring directly from the
sturdy courage, the self-denial, the will
ingness. the iron resolution Of the indi-
yidual, such as shown by the early suf-
fering and achievements of the pioneers.
( They were the men who sought and found
a livelihood in what was once the des-
ert. and they must be protected in the
I Legitimate fruits of their toll.
Now one of the tasks that the govern
ment must do here in Utah IS TO build
reservoirs for the storage of the flood
Water-tO undertake works too great TO
be undertaken by private capital and
great as that task is and great as its
benefits VIII become the government must
do still more Besides the storage of
water there must be protection of the
watersheds and that is why 1 ask you