The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-11-17
IRRIGAnON CONGRESS-
CONVENTION IS DIVIDED INTO
 FIVE SECTIONS.
Letter from Roosevelt Commending the work Arouses Ecnthusiasm--New-
 lands spoken of as Next President of the Congress.

| Fl Paso. Tex, Nov. 16.-The Na- tIonal Irrigation Congress today was 1 divided into five sections, each section l meeting fin a different hall. A paper I on the subject of Rural Settlements" by Commander Booth.Tucker was pre- ssnted to the Congress. 1 Aside from the technical informa- tion brought out, today's sessions were devoid of usual interest but all the delegates paid close attention to the meetings in the various halls and the convention Is proving very profitable. The Mexican delegates are enthusiastic over the propect of being oficially rec ognized by the convention. 1t is un- derstood that they will return to orr ganize congress for Mexico. but they want affiliation with this congress also.
 Among the resolutions introduced and referred was one asking that con- gress include Texas in the list of States that may beneEt from the na- tionaI irrigation funds; one urging Legislation approprfating funds for the creation of additional forest reserves and another repeating and emphasizing the resolutions of previous congresses in favor of consolidating all govern ment forestry work In the Department of Agricu1ture.
 The following letter from President
  enthusiasm:
 Washington. D. C., Nov. 10. To the National Irrigation Congress: It is a pleasure to send my greetings l to you both as President of the United States and as a man who has lived in the West and is eager for its prosper l ity. Whatever any man or body of men may believe as to any question in l political controversy, we may all unite l in the great duty of internal improve | ment. the duty of making every foot I of soil, every stream and every other resource of natural or human origin con tribute to the very utmost to the permanent prosperity of our country. | I congratulate you because you are no longer engaged in a campaign of l education for tho passage of a recia- | nation act.
 I On the contrary your first great ob- II ject is achieved. You have yet to II con slider what has been done and what l is being done under that act by the | reclamation service to consider means to give 1t its largest and widest re-
 suits and to discuss the broad problems I os irrigation methods and practices. It
 Is true your efforts and those of men
 like you. that the people of the United States as a nation undertook to attack II the desert and do away with it not
 only so far as there is water now for
 that purpose but to the fullest extent Il for which water may be developed
 hereafter. Such an attack can be I'successful only when based on accu-
 rate knowledge. When the reclama-
 ton act was passed the essential facts
 as to stream flow had been ascertained II in many parts of the United States and the scientific basis for national recla- H nation which otherwise would have
 taken years to accumulate was already in large part at hand.
 Fl The fact that so much progress has 1 already been made by the reclamation \ service is a striking example of the l advantage of scientific investigation by the National Government It may be I true that, to many whose interest is limited to immediate results the work of reclamation at times seems slow, but we are building for a great future and it Is far more important works built should be permanent and success full and then they should be completed in haste. There will be no unwise hur- Try, neither will there be, any unneces- sary delay. Most of the great prob lems of organizations and methods have now been solved and progress in
 construction is being done with in- loreasing rapidity. The reclamation
 law was a great step towards realiz-
 ing the great methods for securing
 water for irrigation.
 But always and in every case the
 best use of public lands is their use by
 the man who has come to stay. There lare unfortunately in every part of our fcountry few men whose interests are 1 purely temporary, who are eager to
 skim the cream and go instead of using
 the forests eonservatively. They would
 for example. abuse and destroy the
 natural reservoirs upon which national
 irrigation depends to the permanent less of every agency which makes for
 the true development and lasting great
 ness of the irrigible States, Such in-
 terests cannot be allowed to control.
 Now that your first great object has
 been accomplished in the passage of ! the reclamation law you should make
 yourselves the guardians of the future.
 In forestry, grazing and mineral
 wealth. the foundation stones of the
 new and greater West for irrigation
 and every other interest which you irepresent, the period of exclusiveness
 is past. The stock interests are no longer dependent of the mining inter-
 ests, nor either of them independent
 of the irrigator.
 A closer Intervening than ever be-
 fore is at hand among all the great interests of the whole country. One Ieannot prosper without the other. So future growth and greatness of the other Western interests will depend, in the first degree, upon the development of irrigation and the development of
 irrigation will depend upon the pro- lection and wise use of the existing forests and the creation of new ones and the proper control of the grazing. Your work for the good of one inter- est is for the good of all.
 Theodore Roosevelt.
 Senator Newlands of Nevada, Is the most talked-of man for the next Pres idency of the Congress.