The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-09-04

else way in which the expenditures shall be made. All that is settled. There remains, however, the critical question of how best to utilize the re- claimed lands by putting them into the hands Of actual cultivators and home makers, who will return the original outlay in annual installments paid back Into the reclamation fund; the question of seeing that the lands are used for homes, and not for purposes of. specu- lation or for the building up of large 1 fortunes.
 This question is by no means simple. It is easy to make plans and spend money. During the time when the gov ernment is making a great investment like this the men in charge are praised and the rapid progress is commended, But when the time comes for the gov ernment to demand the refund of the investment under the terms of the law then the law itself will be put to the test and the quality of its administra- tion will appear.
 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 profitably or nor, and whether or not it is for the in terest of the community that he should have it. The prosperity of the present irrigated areas came from the subdivis- ion of the land and the consequent in- l tensive cultivation. With an adeduate supply of water, farm of five acres in l some parts of the arid west, or of forty acres elsewhere, is as large as may be successfully titled by one family. When, therefore, man attempts to hold 16O acres of land completely irri- gated by government work, he is pre- venting others from acquiring a home, and is actually keeping down the popu- lation of the state.
 | 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. Therefore, the re- | quirement of the reclamation act that the size of the farm unit shall be lim- tied in each region to the area which will comfortably support one family must be enforced in letter and in spirit This does not mean that the farm unit shall be sufficient for the present fam l fly with its future grown children and grandchildren, but rather that during the ten years of payment the area as- signed for each family shall be suffl- cient to support It. When once the farms have been fully titled by free holders little danger of land monopoly will remain.
 This great meeting of practical irrl- gators should give particular attention to this problem and others of the same kind. You should, and I doubt not that you will, give your effectual support to the officers of the government in mak- ing the reclamation law successful in all respects, and particularly in getting back the original investment so that the money may be used again and again in the completion of other prof. ects and thus in the general extension of prosperity in the west. Until it has been proved that this great investment of $40, 100000 in irrigation made by the government will be returning to the treasury it is useless to expect that the people of the country will consider di- rect appropriation for the work. Let us give the reclamation service a chance to utilize the present investment second time before discussing such in- crease. I look forward with great con- fdence to the result
 By the side of the reclamation ser- vice there has grown up another ser- vice of not less interest and value to You of the west, This is the forest service, which has been 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, which the forest service is engaged in carrying out, is based, as I have often said, on the vigorous purpose to make every resource of the forest reserves contribute In the highest degree to the prmannt 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 prosperity of the stocl1man, the miner, the lumberman, and the railroads, and, most important of all, the small ranchman who cultivates his own land know that you are with me In the intention to preserve the tim Der, the water, and the grass by using them fully, but wisely and conserya- lively. We propose to do this through the freest and most cordial co-opera- tion between the government and every man who is in sympathy with this pol icy, the wisdom of which no man who knows the facts can for a moment doubt.
 It is now less than two years since the forest service was established. It had a great task before it-to create or reorganize the service on a hundred forest reserves, and to ascertain and meet the very different local conditions and local needs all over the west. This task is not finished, and of course 1t I