CanÌƒon City record. [volume] (CanÌƒon City, Colo.) 1883-192?, 1904-09-08

III W thc siAlu oh
Manhattan Island. but / BELONG west
OF the Missouri river"
This is a key to the depth and breadth
of the Presidents knowledge concerning
all things pertaining to the United States.
He is the first President who ever resid-
ed west of the Missouri river. He is the
first who ever perceived the incalculnble
importance Of the arid west. and he is
chiefly responsible for the national irri-
Cation act which is to transform deserts
into gardens. By a chain of endless rev.
enues derived from the sale of public
lands in the arid States, each arid State
in turn is to be reclaimed and populated
by independent, high-minded, self-sup-
porting citizens.
Roosevelt established himself, in 1884,
.ou a ranch at the headwaters of the Lit
stle Missouri river in South Dakota. He
was then only 26 years of age. After
n residence there of about two years he
returned to New York, not only restored
in body, but a different man mentally
and psychically. He had entered into the
spirit Of the West so completely that he
was actually westernized. There the
mountains communicated to him the Sc
cret 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
of the plains. There, too, he learned the
imaryels of the arid soil when Joined to
THE waters Of the mountain streams.
Vast Areas to Be Reclaimed.
1t was such experiences as these that
abled 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-
tion of independence. Perhaps few of
us have more than vague consciousness
of the mighty issues involved in this act
1t adds at. once 125,0OO,OO0 acres of fer
tile soil to our agricultural and horticul-
tural area and opens up one of the most
beautiful and promising vistas ever per-
ceived by the husbandmen of Americn.
or elsewhere. 1t might be said by cavi-
ers that the reclamation of these deserts
was inevitable. sometime. But it was by
no means inevitable that they should be
reclaimed by means of public works, and
chat the ownership of land and water
would be indissolubly united. The great
est thing President Roosevelt has done
here was to write this flaming sentence:
'PnIVATE OWNERSHIP OF WAT
ER, APART FROM LAND. CANNOT
PREVAIL WITHOUT CAUSING EN-
DURING WRONG" That wns nnoth-
er Proclamation of Emancipation. Into
the great struggle between private greed
and public good came. at the psycholog-
fcal moment, the mighty words Of the
first irrigation President-and the battle
was won.
Praise for the President.
William E. Smythe. author of "Con-
quest of Arid America" pioneer in the
irrigation movement, and now a Demo
10 nf Sam TliaUn (NaIifnruia
writing of President Roosevelt's visit to
the West awhile ago, exclaimed: wei
come Theodore Roosevelt, Welcome.
because you are the President, Welcome
again, because you wrung national irri-
cation from an unwilling Congress! And
thrice welcome. because with stroke OF
your pen you slew the dragon of water
monopoly! Much as the men of to-day
appreciate the thing you did when OPP
portunity opened the door. it is only the
men who are to live, as the long genera
tions shall unfold. who may know the
full Significance of that great deed" II
is universally recognized, irrespective OF
politics, that the p;lssage of the national
irrigation act by Congress. June. 1902,
could never have been accomplished il Il
had not been for the fact that Mr.. Roose-
welt 80 strongly recommended irrigation
legislation in his message to Congress
and put his personal shoulder to the
wheel. TO help the friends of the bill
swing tho forces into line in its favor.
When his official signature was duly
afixed TO the measure. making 1t the
law of the land. the press from the At
lnntic' to the Pacific, from the lakes to
the gulf. snnd irrespective OF religion or
poIitiir, sent up one hearty acclaim OF
well done." 1t was a sincere heart.
tribute to the man. tn his honesty, pat
rfotism, statcsmansliip. Americanism.
1iainc We'd with Califorrin, and the Mis-
sissippi valley said Amen" The eulo.
xies, information. exultations, predictions
and prophecies were sdisying and inspir-
Ing. They emphasized the Monroe doc
trine of America for Americans" Ex-
tracts from many of the papers publish
edfin different parts Of the country-ap-
pearing 1t the time-ars here repro
duccd:
President Roossvsit's Triumph.
As the first distinctively administration
measure to pass both houses of Congress
during the present session the national
Irrigation bill Is deserving Of especial at
ecntion mt the moment. Not that its spe.
ci6c provisions or its passnge present
anythfng new In q matter that has long
been nnder public and legislative discus
sfon and consideration in this country,
but BECAUSE irrigation Legislation wns one
of the Comparatively few things to which
President Roosevelt called the especial
attention Of Congress 10 his first annual
Rnessage, siad to secure which he has de-
vbtpd, his tnergies and influences unccas-
fnsfy for nearly seven months. His ap-
erovai' OF the bif by formally attaching
his signature to it-which he will nat
unaliy do with becoming promptnsss-