Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-09-03
IRRIGATION MEN
At 14TH CONGRESS
Notable Session Opened at
Boise, Idaho.
LETTER FROM PRESIDENT
Message is Replete With Facts Per-
tinent to West.
FOR RECLAMATION AND FOREST
Testimonial to the Citizens Of the
Frontier - Characteristic Words
From the Roosevelt Mind.

BOISE, Idaho, September 3-The follow
ing message from the President was read
at the fourteenth irrigation congress.
which opened in this city today and which
will continue until September 8:
The following Is the Presidents letter:
To the Officers and Members of the Irriga
ton Congress. Boise. Idaho:
Operations under the reclamation act
which l signed on June H.. 1902, have been
carried on theoretically during the four
years since that date. The reclamation serv
ice, consisting of over 400 skilled engineers
and experts in various lines, has been Or
ganized. and it Is now handling the work
with rapdity and effectiveness. Construc-
ton is already we'll advanced on twenty
three great enterprises In the arid states
and territories. Over 100000 acres Of
land have been laid out for irrigation. and
of this 10000 acres are now under ditch;
800 miles of canals and bitches and 10000
feet Of tunnel have been completed, and
100000 cubic yards of earth and 100000
cubic yards of rock have been moved. De-
tailed topographic surveys have been ex-
tended over 10000 square miles of country
within which the reclamation work is To-
Gated, and 10000 miles of level lines have
been run. Three hundred buildings. includ-
ing offices and sleeping quarters for work
men, have been erected by the reclamation
service.-an about an equal number by the
5000 horses are at present employed.
The period of general surveys and exami
nations for projects is past. Effort is now
concentrated in getting the water upon
project to put 1t on a revenue-producing
basis To bring all the projects to this
point will require upward of $40,OOO,OO0
which amount, 1t is estimated, will be avail
able from the receipts from the disposal
of public lands for the years 19O1-190S.
We may well congratulate ourselves upon
the rapid progress already made, and re-
joice that the infancy of the work has been
safely passed. But we must not forget
that there are dangers and difficulties still
ahead, and that only unbroken vigilance,
efficiency, integrity and good sense will suf-
fee to prevent disaster. There is now no
question as to where the work shall be
done, how 1t shall be done or the precise
way in which the expenditures shall be
made All that is settled. There remains,
however, the critical question Of how best
to utilize the retaining lands by putting
them into the hands of actual cultivators
and home-makers, who will return the orig
inal outlay In annual installments paid
back into the reclamation fund; the Ques-
ton of seeing that the lands are used for
homes, and not for purposes of speculation
or for the building up of large fortunes.
This question Is by no means simple. 1t
Is easy to make plans and spend money.
During the time when the government 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 government 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
administration will appear.
The Danger Of the Hour.
The pressing danger just now springs
from the desire Of nearly every man to get
and hold much land as he can, whether
he can handle 1t probably or not, and
a,ho bar 10 fnr q n Of hQ
community that he should have it. The
prosperity of the present irrigated areas
came from the subdivision of the land and
the consequent intensive cultivation. With
an adequate supply of water, farm of
five acres in some parts of the arid west,
or of forty acres elsewhere, is as large as
may be successfully titled by one family.
When, therefore, a man attempts to hold
100 acres Of land completely irrigated by
government work. he is preventing others
from acquiring a home, and Is actually
keeping down the population Of the state.
Speculation in lands reclaimed by the gov
eminent must be checked at whatever cost.
The object of the reclamation act is not to
make money, but to make homes. There
fore, the requirement Of the reclamation act
| that the size of the farm unit shall be linn
tied in each region to the area which will
comfortablye support one family must be
enforced in letter and in spirit. This does
not mean that the farm unit shall be suffi-
cient for the present family, with its flu
ture grown children and grandchildren, but
rather that during the ten years of pay
ment the area assigned for each family
shall be sufficient 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 irrigators
should give particular attention to this
problem and others Of the same kind. You
should, and 1 doubt not that you will, give
your effectual support to the officers of the
government in making 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 projects.
and thus in the general extension of pros
perity in the west. Until it has been proved
that this great investment of s40,OO00O0 in
irrigation made by the government will be
returning to the treasury 1t is useless to
expect that the people of the country will
consider direct appropriations for the work.
Let us give the reclamation service chance
to utilize the present investment second
time before discussing such increase. l
look forward with great confidence to the
result.
The Forest Service.
BY the side of the reclamation service
there has grown up another service of not
less interest and value to you of the west.
This Is the forest service, which was Gre
ated 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 car
rying out. is based as~ have often said, on
the vigorous purpose to make every re-
source of the forest reserves contribute in
the highest degree to the permanent pros
perity 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
stockman, the miner, the lumberman and
the railroads. and, most important of all,
the small ranchman who cultyates his own
land. know that you are with me in
the intention to preserve the timber. the
water and the grass by using them fully,
but wisely and conservatively. We propose
to do this through the freest and most
cordial cooperation between the govern
ment and every man who is in sympathy
with this policy, 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 tito 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 could not have been finished
To- ,cl,o Dr,ff IL