The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1904-10-14
ROOSEvELT'S INSPIRING AMERICAN|SM
While Creating a New Agricultural and Horti-
cultural World at Home, He Would
Establish Commercial Pres
tige in the Orient.

sue OF tue MISSISSIPPI Nalley, anu the
prosperity Of the eastern manufacturer
has in turn brought prosperity to the
eastern farmer. Uncle Sam has a great
deal Of land and a great deal Of water
in the West. That land is arid, and
the water, which would make it pro-
ductive, is running to waste. The prop
osition is to irrigate these great noun
tain valleys and plains and build more
homes n make more markets.
The eastern manufacturer will sell
in the West, but the western farmer will
not sell in the East, except fruits and
things like that which will not compete
til the eastern farmer. This great
* will take time. 1t will require
many years to wet all that dry land,
but we will begin now and go along
carefully each year until the task is
done. Not many dams or new %neighbor-
hoods will be started before the business
men of the East will have their travel
ing men in the West to sell goods. Think
of this great home market; the whole
world wants to get into the United
States to sell things, but our home mar
ket is for ourselves first, to develop it
to he fullest extent.
VIII A<4udAsZe equilibrium
The reclamation Of arid America will
to a great extent balance our one-sided
development. The eastern half Of the
United States to-day has a population
Of over 10000, 900, while the western
half contains somewhere in the neigh
borhood Of 100000, or less han 10
per cent. of the whole. The new irriga-
ton law is working satisfactorily. The
country was fortunate in finding a bur-
eau of the government already equipped
to take up the question Of surveys and
construction Immediately. This is one of
the greatest pieces Of work which has
ever come before this government. The
dams, bitches and weirs to be construct
ell will be the greatest in the world.
They will stand not for generations, but
for centuries and contribute to the we'll
being of hundreds of millions Of people.
Arid America will contain by far the
greatest irrigated area Of any country
in the world.
Vast Oriental Commerce.
On the other hand no person at all con-
versant with current affairs can doubt
the great future of the Orient. The
lands chat border upon the Pacific Ocean
contain nearly one-half the total popu-
lation Of the globe. Because Of made
quate transportation facilities upon the
land. the people are more dependent than
western nations upon maritime COM
merce. The Orient! What magic in the.
name. The fabulous storehouse of mys-
terry, wealth, art, religion. When Amer
lea was undiscovered, England the home
Of rude savages Greece and Rome un-
N,w ~ - <1~ I;.o lnwl~ ovoS 49,
ticism, before the dawn Of history, lived
and lourished the wonderful Orient, the
far East. the islands beyond the sea.
China defes the world in age, popula-
ton and industry. II all the inhabitants
OF the world were stood up I'm one line,
every fourth man would be a Chinaman.
The Pacific Ocean, which has for CEN
turtles been washing the shores Of our
western boundaries, has said to us:
Here lies the East; this is the way to
India" But it has spoken into dumb
ears. We heard but we needed not.
Others have taken warning that the
great commercial development OF the
future lies upon the broad Pacific, and
have jnaugurated new lines Of transpor-
tation and enlarged the capacity Of those
already formed. Last year Japan,
China, Korea. Hong Kong and the Rus
sian possessions fronting the Pacif
Ocean did a business with the outside
world amounting to 5000. 900, 900: fully
two-thirds Of this was imports. During
the year this country bought from them
S12.OOO,0OO worth Of goods. and only
sold to them a little over $50,O 600.
Peaceful Conquest Of China.
The Empire Of China will soon be
opened in all parts to the OF
the world, and it becomes a question Ok
the share this country may secure in
the face Of existing competition. The
purpose Of establishing Oriental trade is
primarily to secure a market for the
manufactured commodities Of the east.
ern States and ths agricultural products
OF the Mississippi Valley. but these alone
VIII not make cargoes for the Pacific
steamers.
1t Is essential, in order to supnort
steamship lines, that 4 practicable nm
limited supply Of bulky freight be avail.
able for transportation. Cotton. wheat.
and -four in this instance must be relied
upon. The cotton will be furnished by
the southern States, and will bear the
freight charges to ports Of shipment.
but che less valuable breadstuf3 must he
grown en- lie slopes Of the continental
divide and the Pacific in order to com
pete in price with other grain-arowinp
countries. The fertile mountain valleys
will produce grain in any desired guam
tity IL the ground is irrigated. A situa
ton n thus presented which makes the
success Of an Oriental trade, Of any con-
siderable volume, dependent almost sole
" upon the reclamation Of the arid
lands
VIII Bensnt Farmers Most.
The American farmer will be the
Fxhiof, the prominent gamer by the OPEN
|inx up Of this vast section to trade and
|comuegce. For there are limitations to
Oriontai agricultural essurces. As the
ASlaticse become learned in scientific
~a9rsaitnre, adopt modern methods and
|jnxxeaSe the working eflciency Of the In
diyt1ual, the ~discrepancy IN the price
|14 laSboe wiil dininish. AZ present, under
hstAsd snploysAs enc American