Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1906-09-03
A HARD TEST FOR !:
IRRIGATION Il
President Roosevelt Says Many
Will Try to Hold Too
Much Land
MAY FAIL TO MEET PAYMENTS
When Time Comes for Repayment Of
Money Expended by the Government,
Wisdom of tho Movement Viii Be
Affirmed or Denied-Danser in Land
Speculation.

Boise. Sept 3.-The Fourteenth Na-
tional Irrigation Congress convened
, here today with representatives from
large number of western states. let
ter from President Roosevelt reviewing
| the progress of the government work
under the reclamation act was read as
/ follows:
ITO the officers and members Of the
| irrigation congress, Boise, Idaho: OPP
rations under the reclamation act,
which | signed on June II, 1902, have
been carried on energetically during the
! four years since that date. The rec
lamation service, consisting of over 400
skilled engineers and experts in vari-
! Gus lines, has been organized, and 1t
| is now handling the work with rapidity
and effectiveness. Construction is al
ready 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 100000 acres are now under
ditch: 500 miles of canals and bitches
and 10000 feet of tunnel have been
completed; and 16,000,000 cubic yards
of earth and 100000 cubic yards of
rock have been moved Detailed topo-
| graphic surveys have been extended
over 10000 square miles OF country
/ within which the reclamation work is
| located, and 10000 miles of level lines
have been run. Three hundred build
ings, including offices and sleeping
quarters for workmen, have been erect
ed by the reclamation service, and
about an equal number by the con-
tractors Over 10000 men and about
5000 horses are at present employed.
The period Of general surveys and
examinations for projects is past. Eff
fort is now concentrated in getting the
water upon sufficient area of irrigable
land in each project to put it on a
revenue producing basis. To bring all
the projects to this point will require
upwards of s4o,OoO,O00. which amount.
/ it is estimated, will be available from
| the receipts from the disposal of public
lands for the years 1901-1s0S.
There remains the critical question
of how best to utilize the reclaimed
lands by putting them into the hands
of actual cultivators and home MAX
ers, who will return the original out
lay 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.
The pressing danger just now
81 "ings from the desire Of nearly ev..
cry man to get and hold as much land
as he can, whether he can handle it
profitably or not, and whether or not
it is for the interest Of the commun-
| ity that he should have it. The pros
perity of the present irrigated areas
came from the subdivision of the land
and the consequent intensive cultiva-
ton. With an adequate supply of wat
er, farm of five acres in some parts
of the arid west or of forty acres else
where, is as large as may be success
| fully 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 home, and is
actually keeping down the popula-
tion of the state.
Speculation in lands reclaimed by
|
whatever cost. The object of the
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
| spirit This does not mean that the
| farm unit shall be sufficient for the
present family with its future grown
children and grandchildren, but rath-
er that during the ten years of pay
ment the area assigned for each fam
| lily shall be sufficient to support it,
| When once the farms have been fully
| titled by freeholders, little danger of
land monopoly will remain.
sit is now less than two years since
the forest service was established. 1t
had a great task before ito create or
reorganize the service on 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 it
could not have been finished in so short
a time. But the work has been car
| ried forward with energy and intelli-
gence and enough has been done to
show how our forest policy is work
ing out
.AThe result of first Importance to You
as irrigators is this. The forest SER
vice 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
| 6ua
| both to the forest service and to the
effective assistance of settlers and 9TH
ers in and near the reserves Every
thing the government has ever spent
upon it's forest work is small price to
pay for the knowledge that the streams
which make your prosperity can be and
are being freed from the ever present
threat of forest fires.
!! Lands In the forest reserves that