The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1904-09-30

CATION act passed by Il Republican Con-
gress, and signed by President Roosevelt
June Z, 1902. The Democrats are now
claiming that they did it," Still, the
facts remain that President Roosevelt.
by the force of his own identity, put the
measure through Congress and made it
the law of the land with his official sig
nature as President.
1t is not a dream, but a fact, that the
present population of the United States
can be duplicated OIL the arid public do
main in the West. This can be lone
without making new competitors for
those already engaged in agricultural
pursuits in the East and in the South.
On the other hand. this wonderful act
of planting n new nation iii what is now
all but an unbroken desert will confer
enormous benefits on those sections
which are already covered with farms.
factories and towns.
Big Internal Problems.
In our great West, n population of
1OO,OOO,ON might live in prosperous con-
tentment. There is everything to inspire
and reward their industry-the charm of
climate and of scenery. the fertility of
soil, the u~nimaginable wealth of water.
forest and mine, and. across the Pacific,
new worlds to conquer. Our biggest in
ternal question to-day is the preparation
and colonization of this productive area.
This nation must keep on with it's his
tOric work of civilization. 1t must con-
tinue that marvellous reciprocal process
by which it has so rapidly risen to i'm
measurable heights of economic power
the making of new communities to feed
the old. the enlargement of old commune
ties to feed the new. The longest step
get taken to this end is adoption of the
plan Of national irrigation-chiety
through the instrumentalny of President
Roosevelt. 1t is a new: policy, only at
present in its experimental stage, but
those who know most about it believe it
lisa measure big with national fate.
Momentous New Era.
We are entering npon a new and mo-
msntous era that calls for the highest
qualities of constructive craftsmanship. |
The movement must be broadly founded
and firmly and intelligently managed. We +!
are planning, not for ourselves but for
future generations. for we are the fore
fathers of a mighty future in a mighty
land. If we are equal to our duty and
our opportunities, we shall make homes
for a hundred million Of the freest men
who ever walked the earth.
= We are living in an age of mighty
achievement. Engineering works which
the last generation would have thought
an impossibility will be the completed
task of this generation. The New York
subway. the great tunnel Of the Penn
sylyania railroad, the Isthmian canal and
the Salt River reservoir in Arizona and
other mammoth irrigation projects will
soon stand as completed monuments to
the constructive genius of our people and
this age. The future is potent with still
grander undertakings which will, in a
few brief years. also stand as accom-
piished facts. Egypt was for centuries
the granary of the world. Tint land of
mystery and romance was the cradle of
sur civilization For countless ages the
Nile has risen annually, to ~fertilize the
land which has yielded, from year to
year, the sustenance of teeming millions.
Greatest Question of the Age.
The question of irrigation. which now
confronts the people of the United States
is one of the most important of the age.
1t is of more Importance than the 18th
milan canal or. q deep waterway to the
sea. 1t involves the solution Of the for
est aud flood problem. 1t embraces the
future Internal Development of the Unit
ed States. 1T will require years of work
to perfect the system of national irriga-
ton, but it will be the greatest benefit
ever conferred on the western people.
Men may be cruel and unfair, but ma
ture is generous and utterly impartial.
The earth. the sun and the waters are
as kind to the poor as to the rich. The
roses do not stop to look up u mans
financial standing before consenting to
bloom for him. They grow wherever
planted. They cover the poor mans cot
tage as gladly as they do the rich mans
villa.
Hnsbandry Makes Patriots.
Nations may spring into being, gener-
ated by the force of ideas alone, but
the vigorous manhood, the mature growth