The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-09-16
Delegates Representing Commercial
and Other Organizations in Eleven
States i'm Attendance.
MESSAGE FROM PRESIDENT
IMPORTANCE OF RECLAIMING WEST
ERN BARREN LANDS URGED.
Forestry the Companion and Support
of Irrigation, He Says-Trained
Men Needed.


present from eleven States west of the Mis-
sissippi river, representing practically
every commercial organization in the great
territory included in the semi-arid regions
of the country and the State and municipal
governments, the eleventh session of the
National Irrigation Congress opened here
to-day. The following message from Pres
ident Roosevelt was received:
THE passage of the national irrigation
law was one of the greatest steps not only
in the forward progress of the State. but
to that of all mankind
lit was the beginning of an achievement
so great that We hesitate to predict the
outcome but it was only the beginning.
Now that the law is an accomplished fact,
that law must be given effect. To that
end the reclamation service organized
under the national irrigation law OF June
IL, 1892, has been pushing its surveys and
examination of possible irrigation projects
energetically in each of the thirteen States
and three Territories named In the act.
Some of the projects which promised well
at first are found on careful study TO be i'm
practicable either because of scanty water
supply or of great cost; others must await
higher values in land for immediate con-
struction. The feasible projects are always
large and costly because private enterprises
has already seized on the smaller and less
expensive ones, leaving to the government
the great works which are to be an essen
tial part in bringing the Nation to it's full
development. Great care ana the niSneSl
engineering skill are required TO plan and
build such works which are among the
most difficult undertakings or mankind.
They must be built for permanence and
safety for they are.to last and spread pros
perity for centuries.
ITO design and build such works a body
of engineers of the highest character have
been brought together in the reclama ton
service, for only men impartially selected
for capacity alone are capable of creating
these great structures. Merit must govern;
not only in the selection of men, but still
more in the selection of the projects. Every
reclamation project selected for construc-
ton must possess the qualities which COM
mand it as national undertaking, certain
to reclaim large tracts of arid land and TO
support in well-being dense and vigorous
population. Vast though the benefits oil
the reclamation law, there will be many
disappointments, which necessarily await
both the advocate of special projects and
| the men whose desire for accomplished
results outruns the SOW and steady move
ment of these great undertakings. 1t should
be borne in mind that a broad survey OF
| all possible projects gives the conception
| of their relative value and that work OF
| prime Importance to one group OF men may
| seem less desirable in the light OF wider
knowledge.
Nor is it wise. i'm large affairs. to be-
| gin construction first and elaborate details
afterwards. Each important point must
be carefully studied in advance, and the
whole plan tested and approved before
work can begin Yet If We proceed both
cautiously ana peTslStenlly unueF THIS Dtll-
Efficient law we may confidently expect the
largest possible development of our arid
| lands and their settlement by Industrious,
prosperous, self-respecting men and women.
who will exchange the products of irrigated
agriculture for the products of mills and
| factories throughout the United States.
| Communities fiourishing in what is now
| the desert will finally take their places
| among the strongest pillars of our common
wealth. The irrigation development of the
| arid West cannot stand alone. Forestry
| is the companion and support of irrigation
| Without forestry irrigation must fail. Per-
| manent irrigation developments and forest
destruction cannot exist together.
Never forget that the forest reserve pol
| icy of the national government means the
| use of all the resources of the forest re-
| serves. There is little profit in destruction
| compared with use. The settlement of the
| great arid West by the makers of homes is
! the central object both of the irrigation and
the forest policy of the United States.
I'm forestry, as In irrigation. the imme-
| date private interests of some individual
must occasionally yield to their permanent
| advantage, which Is the public good. The
| benefits of forestry are not only for the
serves are for all the people, but first for
| the people in the immediate neighborh0od
| for whom supplies of wood and water are
among the first necessities of life With
| the wiser and more skillful management OF
| the reserves by trained men, the greater
obviously will their usefulness be to the
| public. We must never allow our chagrin
management of the forest reserves to blind
us to the absolute necessity of these re-
! serves TO the people of the West Support
| of the forest reserve policy has grown with
wonderful rapidity in the West during the
| last few years. Ii will continue to grow
until the last vestige of opposition, now al
| most gone, has wholly disappeared before
| the true understanding of the object and
| the effort of the forest reservation. The
greater the support of the forest reserve
! by the people of the West the greater the
| assurance that the national irrigation policy
| will not fail, for the preservation of the
| forests is vital TO the success of this pol
| icy"
Secretary of the Interior Hitchcock, in
| letter, said
Much good work in the way of prelimi.
| nary surveys, estimates, etc, has already
| been done, and no time has been or will be
| lost by the department in meeting the CON
| ditions and requirements of the reclamation
| act 1t has been a source of great plea s.
| ure to me to have been in any way identi-
| fled with this great wark, and 1 assure you
that every effort will be made on my part
| to fully meet the expectations and desires
| CT the members or the congress Whose
deliberations, | am sure, will be most In
| structive, and which L shall read with i'm.
| tereSt.'
After the welcoming speeches, a trained
| chorus of 200 voices sang the national irri
| cation ode, written by Mrs. Gilbert Nc
| Clurg, of Colorado Springs. Fifteen hun
| dred delegates and spectators Joined il
the chorus to the tune of America .ant
| the effect was tremendous. An ovation wa.
| given Mrs. McClung at its conclusion Jus
| previous TO adjournment Secretary of Agri
culture Wilson was introduced amid much
| cheering.