The San Francisco call., 1906-09-04

With that result none will quarrel, ex-
cept the men who are losing a chance
of personal profit at the public expense.
Our Western forest policy is based
upon meeting the wishes of the best
public sentiment of the whole West.
1t proposes to create new reserves
wherever forest lands still vacant are
found in the public domain and to give
the reserves already made the highest
possible usefulness to all the people. So
far our promises to the people in re-
gard to ii have all been made good;
and I have faith that this policy will
be carried to successful completion, be-
cause 1 believe that the people are be-
hind it,
AS soon as the applause which fol-
lowed the reading of the Presidents
message had subsidized. Vice President
Charles w. Fairbanks was introduced.
The assembly arose and it was several
minutes before the Vice President
could proceed with his address.
Senator Carter presided at the after
noon session, which was held in Co
lumbia Theater. and it was agreed that
all resolutions should be referred to
the committee on resolutions without
debate and to further expedite busi-
ness the time allowed for the reading
of any paper was limited to twenty
minutes and the time of any speaker
on any question brought before the
congress was limited to five minutes.
Governor George C. Pardee ,presi-
dent of the congress, being unable to
deliver his annual address in person.
sent a letter. which was read by the
secretary. Pardee's message was in
part as follows:
BIGGER THAN PANAMA PROJECT.
ITO the officers and Delegates of the
National Irrigation Congress-, Boise,
Idaho:
"Gentlemen:-I profoundly regret
that circumstances prevent me from
meeting with you in this the four
teenth session of this very important
meeting of the National Irrigation
Congress. No better work has been
undertaken since our fathers laid the
foundations for great republic dedi-
Gated to liberty and equality than the
work to which you have put your
hands-that of making the deserts fer
tile, and turning into cultivated farms
and gardens our arid waste places.
Compared with the tasks which the
Reclamation Service of the United
States Government has taken up, the
construction Of the Panama canal is
but the digging of a trench wherein
to lay the foundations of great and
enduring monument to human achieve
ment When perfected. the canal will
be accepted by the commercial world
as an everyday convenience, as though
it had always existed.
"The work of reclaiming the arid
regions of the West will be going for
ward, step by step, project by project,
consummation by contamination, with
the ultimate end of the work percep-
tibly no nearer than it is now. and vet
in the wake of that work there will
spring up splendid farms surrounding
prosperous villages which, In turn,
will surround and sustain populous
cities; and. together. these will sustain
strong commemorative bound by ties
of love and gratitude to one indis-
soluble union, as capable OF construc-
tive benevolence as of the preservation
of internal peace.
.If development by private enter
prise is to mean that the investment
is to be quadrupled in the sale of the
land to the tiller OF the soil, In ad-
dition to exacting. perpetually, high
interest on the investment in the way
of charge for the use OF water, then
development will do well to await the
benefcent investment of the revolving
fund of the Reclamation Service. The
water should belong to the land and
the land to the man who is to culti-