The Teton peak., 1904-09-08

When President Roosevelt was Gov
amor Of New York he once remarked:
II an Of the sixth genera ton born on
Manhattan Island, but l BELONG west
Il the Missouri river"
This is a key to the depth and breadth
n the Presidents knowledge concerning
lll things pertaining to the United States.
he il the first President who ever resid-
ID west Of the Missouri river. He is the
arst who ever perceived the incalculable
Importance of the arid west, and he is
chiefly responsible for the national irri-
CATION act which is to transform deserts
INTO gardens. By chain of endless rev.
enuss derived from the sale of public
lands in the arid States, each arid State
h turn is to be reclaimed and populated
ey Independent, high-minded, self-sup-
oerting citizens.
Roosevelt established himself, in 1884.
u q ranch at the headwaters of the Lit
Ns Missouri river in South Dakota. He
was then only 26 years Of age. After
Z residence there of about two years he
returned to New York, not only restored
h body. but different man mentally
and psychically. He had entered into the
spirit of the West so completely that he
vas actually westernzed There the
mountains communicated to him the Sc
eret Of their strength and he learned of
The benedictions of the unclouded sun.
He made a ranch, herded cattle, mingled
with cowboys and hunted the big game
bf the plains. There. too. he learned the
narvels of the arid soil when joined to
0s waters of the mountain streams.
Vast Areas to Be Reclaimed.
II UoS crch aypariaraaS tbaSn hat
enabled him to link his name forever
with the great irrigation movement. He
thus was induced to put the presidential
shoulder against the barred doors of
arid America and do one Of the biggest
things since the signing of our Declara-
Hon Of Independence Perhaps few of
- have more than vague consciousness
If the mighty issues involved in this act
Il adds at once 125.000,00O acres of fer
uls soil to our agricultural and horticul-
taral area and opens up one of the most
beautiful and promising vistas ever per-
ssived by the husbandmen of America,
" elsewhere. 1t might be said by cavil-
brs that the reclamation of these deserts
was inevitable, sometime. But it was by
10 means inevitable that they should be
reclaimed by means of public works, and
would be indissolubly united. The great
ut thing President Roosevelt has done
here was to write this flaming sentence:
PRIVATE OWNERSHIP OF WAT
GR, APART FROM LAND. CANNOT
PREVAIL WITHOUT CAUSING EN-
DURING WRONG" That was anoth-
E z reclamation of Emancipation. Int
the great struggle between private greed
and public good came, at the psycholog
veal moment, the mighty words of the
trst irrigation President-and the battle
vas won.
Praise for the President.
William e. Smythe, author of Con
guest Of Arid America" pioneer in the
irrigation movement and now a Demo
natic politician of San Diego, California
writing of President Roosevelt's visit t.
he West awhile ago, exclaimed: "Wel-
some, Theodore Roosevelt! Welcome
because you are the President! Welcome
again, because you wrung national irri
gaticn from an unwilling Congress! And
thrice welcome, because with stroke oil
Pour pen you slew the dragon of water
monopoly! Much as the men of to-da.
appreciate the thing you did when op
eortunity opened the door, it is only thu
men who are to live, as the long genera
Mons shall unfold, who may know til,
fall significance of that great deed" l
b universally recognized, irrespective O
politics, that the passage of the nationa
irrigation act by Congress, June. 1902
bpuld never have been accomplished If i.
had not been for the fact that Mr.. Roose
eolt 20 strongly recommended irrigation
legislation in his message to Congress
and put his personal shoulder to th
wheel to help the friends of the bill
wing the forces into line in it's favor.
When his official signature was dull
p0xed to the measure, making it tn
hw Of the land. the press from the AT
Antic to the Pacific. from the lakes t
~ gulf, and irrespective of religion o
politics, sent up one hearty acclaim O
well done!' 1t was a sincere heart
tribute to the man, to his honesty. pal
hetism, craftsmanship, Americansn
Maine We'd with California, and the Mis-
hssippi valley said "Amen! The eulc
niss. information. Civilizations, prediction
bnA prophecies were edfying and lnspil
1ns. They emphasized the Monroe doc
rins Of america for Americans" Es
tracts from many of the papers publish
u In different parts of the country-aI
esAring at the time-are here repro
Asesd:
President Roo~eve,t's Triumph.
A. the first distinctively administratio
A4asure to pass both houses of Congress
puring the present session the nation,
Irrigation bill is deserving OF especial a
lentioR at the moment. Not that its sp,
nhc provisions or its passage preser
anything new in a matter that has lon
been under public and legislative discu
kien and consideration in this countr,
but because irrigation legislation was Oh
f the comparatively few things to whic
President Roosevelt called the especi,
attention of Congress in his first annu.
message, and to secure which he has d,
voted his energies and influence uncea,
ingly for nearly seven months. His al
pfoval Of the bill by formally attachin
his signature to it-which he will na
hxaity do with becoming prOmptness-