The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1904-12-09

large numbers, eggs are being imported
and distributed, improved reels were
imported from Europe last year, and
two expert reeiers were brought to
Washington to reel the crop cocoons
and teach the art to our W people.
The crop reporting system % he
Department of Agriculture is being
brought closer to accuracy every year.
It has two hundred and fifty thousand
reporters selected from people in eight
vocations in life. 1t a arrangements
with most European countries for in
terchange of estimates. so that our
people may know as nearly as possible
with what they must compete
Irrigation.
During the two and a half years hat
have elapsed since the passage Of the
reclamation act rapid progress has
been made dn the surveys and examina-
tfons of the opportunities for reclama-
ton in the thirteen States and three
Territories OF the arid West. Construc-
ton has already been begun On the
largest and most important Of the irri-
CATION works, and plans are being CON-
pleted for works which will utilize the
funds now available. The operations
are being carried on by the Reclamation
Service, a corps OF engineers selected
through competitive civil service exam
nations. This corps includes expert
enced consulting and constructing en-
gineers as well as various experts in
mechanical and legal matters, and is
composed largely of men who have
| spent most of their lives in practical
affairs connected with irrigation. The
larger problems have been solved and
Ii now remains to execute with care,
economy, and -thoroughness the work
which has been laid out. All impor-
tant details are being carefully con-
sidered by boards Of consulting ngi
neers, selected for their thorough
knowledge and practical experience.
Each project is taken UP on the ground
by competent men and viewed from
the standpoint of the creation of pros
/! porous homes. and of promptly refund
Ing to the Treasury the cost of on
struction. The reclamation act has been
found to be remarkably complete and
| effective, n so broad in it's provis-
ions that a wide range of undertakings
| has been possible under it. At the saliic
time, economy is guaranteed by the
fact that the funds must ultimately be
returned to be used over again.
Forests.
It is the cardinal principle of the
forest-reserve policy of this Admins
tration that the reserves are for use.
Whatever interferes with the use Of
their is to be avoided by every
possible means. But these
must be used in such a way as to make
them permanent.
The forest policy of the government
is just now a subject Of vivid public
interest throughout the west and to the
| people of the United States in general.
The forest reserves themselves are of
extreme value to the present as we'll
as to the future welfare of all the west
ern public-1and States. They powerful
ly affect the use and disposal of the
| public lands. They are of special i'm
| p%ortance because they preserve the
water supply and the supply of timber
for domestic purposes, and so promote
settlement under the reclamation act
Indeed, they are essential to the welfare
of every one Of the great interests Of
the West.
Forest reserves are created for tive
| principal purposes. The first is to pre-
serve the water supply. This is their
most important use. The principal
users of the water thus preserved are
irrigation ranchers and settlers, cities
and towns to whom their municipal
water supplies are of the very first i'm
portance, users and f%urnishers of water
| power, and the users of water for do
mestic, manufacturing. mining. and
other purposes. All these are directly
dependent upon the forest reserves.
The second reason for which forest
reserves are created is to preserve the
timber supply for various classes Of
wood users. Among the more impor-
tant of these are settlers under the re-
clamation act and other acts, for whom
a cheap and accessible supply of timber
for domestic uses Us absolutely neces-
sary; miners and prospectors, VINO are
in serious danger of losing their timber
supply by fire or through export by
lumber companies when timber lands
adjacent to their mines pass into pri-
vate ownership; lumbermen, Transport
tation companies, builders, and COM
mercial interests in general.
Although the wisdom of creating for
est reserves is nearly everywhere heart
lily recognized, yet in a few localities
there has been misunderstanding and
complaint. The following statement is
therefore desirable:
The forest-reserve policy can be sue
cessful only when it has the full sup
port of the people of the West. 1t can
not safely, and should not in any case,
be Imposed upon them against their
will. But neither a we accept the
views Of those whose only interest in
the forest is temporary; who are anx-
ious to reap what they have not sown
and then move away, leaving d~esolation
behind them. On the contrary, it is
everywhere and always the interest of
the permanent settler and the perma-
nent business man, the man with a
stake in the country, which be