The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-09-03
IRRIGATION.
tCo.,i.ued from Page H.

fices and sleeping quarters for work
men, have been erected by the Recla-
nation Service, and about an equal
number by the contractors. Over TO-
900 men and about 5000 horses are al
present employed.
The period of general surveys and
examinations for projects Is past. Ell
tort Is now concentrated in getting
the water upon sufficient area of If.
rtgable land in each project to put 1t
on a revenue producing basis. To bring
all the projects to this point will re-
quire upwards of $4O.OOO.OOO, which
amount, 1t Is estimated. will be avail
able from the receipts from the dis
posal of public lands for the years
19O1-l9OS.
We may we'll congratulate ourselves
upon the rapid progress already made,
and rejoice 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. in
tegrity, and good sense will sufiice tv
prevent disaster. There is now no
question as to where the work shall
be done, how it 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 re-
claimed lands by putting them into
the hands of actual cultivators ana
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 pur-
poses of speculation or for the build-
ing 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 great invest
ment like this. the men in charge are
praised and the rapid progress is COM
mended. 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 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
probably or not. and whether or not
it is for the interest of the 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 acres in some parts of the
arid West. or of 40 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 govern
ment work, he is preventing others
from acquiring home, and is actually
keeping down the population 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
requirement of the Reclamation Act
that the size of the. farm unit shall be
limited 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 family with its future
grown children and grandchildren, but
rather than during the ten years of
payment the area assigned for each
family shall be sufficient to support
1t. When once the farms have been
fully titled by freeholders, little dan
ger of land monopoly will remain.
This great meeting of practical irri-
gators should give particular atten-
ton to this problem and others of
the same kind. You should. and
doubt not that you will, give your
effectual support to the officers of the
government in making the Reclama-
tion 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 prosperit,
in the West. Until it has been proved
that this great investment of $4O,-
100000 in irrigation made by the gov
eminent will be returning. to the
Treasury, it is useless to expect that
the people Of the country will con-
slider direct appropriations for the
work. Let us give the Reclamation
Service chance to utilize the present
investment second time before dis
cussing such increases. l look for
ward with great confidence to the re-
suit.
BY the side of the Reclamation Ser
vice there has grawn up another SER
vice of not less interest and value to
you OF the West. This is the Forest
Service, which was created when the
charge of the forest reserves was
f,sN ocyfo I'll
ment to the Department of Agricul-
ture. The forest policy Of the Admin
istration, which the Forest Service is
engaged in carrying out, is based, as
] have often said, on the vigorous pur-
pose to make every resource of the
forest reserves contribute in the high
est degree 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 whOcultivates his own land. l
know that you are with me in the in
tention 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 cooperatiO.
between the government and every
man who is in sympathy with thu,
policy, the wisdom of which no man
who knows the facts can for a NOM
ent doubt
1t is now less than two years since
the Forest Service was established.
1t had great task before ito create
or reorganize the service on a hun
dred forest reserves and to ascertain