The Springfield herald., 1904-09-30
NEW ERA FOR GREAT west
President Roosevelt's National Irrigation Act to
Be Wonder Worker.
MILLIONS OF CHEERFUL, HAPPY HOMES
Avenue of Relief to Congested Cites-HeaIth,
Prosperity and Patriotism Fostered by
Contact with SoiI-Republican
Party Leads the Way

Even the Democrats are beginning to
realize something of the possibilities for
good which are to come to the whole
United States through the national irri-
cation act passed by 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
q 1t is not dream, but fact. that the
present population of the United States
can be duplicated OH the arid public do
main in the West. This can be done
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 a new nation in 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. a population of
100000, 900 might live in prosperous con-
tentment. There is everything to inspire
and reward their industry-thc charm of
climate and of scenery. the fertility of
Roil, the uuimaginable wealth of water,
forest and mine, and. across the Pacific.
new worlds to conquer. Our biggest i'll
ternal question to-day is the preparation
and colonization of this productive area.
This nation must keep on with its his
toric work of civilization. 1t must con-
tinue that marvellous reciprocal process
by which it has so rapidly risen to i'm
Il, l...s.r
the making of new communities to feed
the old, the enlargement of old communi-
ties to feed the new. The longest step
yet taken to this end is adoption of the
plan of national irrigation-chieily
through the instrumcntality of President
Roosevelt. 1t is Il new policy, only at
present in its experimental stage. but
those who know most about it believe it
is measure big with national fate,
Momentous New Era.
We nre entering upon a new and mo-
mentous era that calls for the highest
qualities of constructive craftsmanship.
The movement must he broadly founded
and firmly and intelligcntly managed. We
are planning. not FOR ourselves but for
future generations, for we are the fore
fathers Of II mighty future in n mighty
land. II we are equal to our duty and
our opportunities, we shall make homes
for hundred million of the frecst 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
sylvania 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
Srander undertakings which will, in a
few brief years. also stand as accom-
piished facts. Egypt was for centuries
the grannry of the world. That land of
mystery and romance was the cradle of
our civilization. For countless ages the
Nile has risen annually. to fertilize the
land which has yielded. from year to
year, the sustennncc of tecming 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
mian canal or a deep waterway to the
sea. 1t involves the solution of the for
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
dure 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 mans
financial standing before consenting to
bloom for him. They grow wherever
planted. They cover the poor mans cot
taee as gladly rs they do the rich mans
villa.
Hasbandry Makes Patriots.
Nations may spring into being, gener-
eted by the force of ideas alone. but
the vigorous manhood. the mature growth
of n State can only he nurturcd and
built up upon the abundant and mani
fold productions of the earth. The very
existence and advance of civilization are
firmly grounded on mnterial resources.
Nations become great and independent
as they develop genius for graspiug the
forces and materials of nature within
their reach and converting them into a
steady flowing stream of wealth and com
fort
To hold n people in Industrious. pro-
uuctiSe, cohtentcd nabitS, hhbits OF VIZ
tue and of patriotism, it is needful to
give them an interest in the cultivation
of land. This fact is seen along the
shores of historic time. Wherever gov
crnment has made laws which have Civ
eli the people OF the land it, occupancy
on fair terms. then content and plenty
have been on every hand. Wherever it
Aas been hard for the masses to obtain
the use of the land, then discomfort and
difficulties have been rampant on every
hand. and frequently national ruin has
been the result. The noblcst use to which
any man or people can put history is to
take it either as warning or wise in.
struction. In the United States we have
in quality. quantity and variety such sup