The San Francisco call., 1906-09-04

Three hundred buildings, including Of
fees and sleeping quarters for work
men. have been erected by the reclama-
tion service and about an equal number
by the contractors. More than 10000
men and about 5000 horses are at pres
ent employed.
s40,OOO,OOO Is NEEDED.
The period of general surveys and
examinations for projects is past Eff
fort is now concentrated in getting the
water upon a sufficient area of irrigable
land in each project to put it on rev.
enue-producing basis. To bring all the
projects to this point will require up
ward of $40,000,000, which amount it
is estimated. will be available from the
receipts al the disposal of public lands
for the years 1901-190S.
There is the critical question of
how best to utilize the reclaimed lands
by putting them into the hands of ac-
tual cultivators and home-makers who
will return the original outlay in an
nual installments paid back into the
reclamation fund; the question OF see
ing that the lands are used for homes
and not for the purposes of speculation
or for the building up of large fortunes.
The pressing danger just now
springs from the desire OF nearly every
man TO get and hold as much land as
he can, whether he can handle it pro-
ftably or not, and whether OF not 1t is
for the interest OF the community that
he should have 1t. The prosperity Of
the present irrigated areas came from
the subdivision of the land and the
consequent intensive cultivation.
Speculation IN lands reclaimed by
the Government must be checked at
whatever cost. The object of the re-
clamation act is not to make money,
but TO make homes.
EXPECTS MONEY TO RETURN.
Until It has been proved that this
great investment of $40,000,000 in irri-
cation made by the Government will be
returned to the Treasury, 1t is useless
to expect that the people of the country
Will consider direct appropriations fof
the work. Let US give the reclamation
service a chance to utilize the present
investment a second time before dis
cussing such increase l look forward
with great confidence to the result
by the side of the reclamation ser
vice there has grown up another
service of not less interest and value
to you of the West. This is the for
est service, which was created when
the charge of the forest reserves was
transferred from the Interior Depart
ment to the Department of Agriculture.
The forest policy of the administration
/
in carrying out, is based, as | have
often said, on the vigorous purposes
TO make every resource of the forest
reserves contribute In the highest de-
gree to the permanent prosperity of
the people who depend upon them. If
ever the time should come when the
Western forests are destroyed. there
will disappear with them the prosper
ity of the stockman, the miner, the
lumberman. and the railroads, and.
most important of all. the small ranch
man, who cultivates his own land.
FOREST RESERVE WORK.
The result of first Importance to you
is this. The forest service has proved
that forest fires can be controlled, by
controlling them Only one-tenth of
one per cent of the area of the forest
reserves was burned over in 1905.
The forest policy of the Govern
ment in the West has now become
what the West desires ii to be. 1t is a
national policy, wider than the bound
aries of any State and larger than the
interests of any single industry.
by keeping the public forests in
the public hands, our forest policy sub
stitues the good of the whole people
for the profits Of the privileged few.