The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1906-09-03

will require upwards of $40, 900 600,
which amount. it is estimated, will be
| available from the receipts from the
disposal of public lands for the years
| 1901-190S.
We may well 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 dang
ers and difficulties still ahead. and
that only unbroken vigilance, efficien-
cy, integrity, and good sense will suf-
flee to 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 and home
seekers, 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 speculation or for the building up of
large fortunes.
The Pressing Danger.
This question is by no means SIM
pie. 1t is easy to make plans and
spend money During the time when
the government is making a great in
vestment like this the men in charge
are praised and the rapid progress is
commended. But when the time comes
20, no 70 nd ho
fund of the investment under the
terms of the law, then the law itself
will be put to the test, and the quail
ity of it's 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 profitably or not, and whether or
not it is for the interest of the COM
munity that he should have it. The
prosperity of the present irrigated
areas came from the subdivision of
the land and the consequent inten-
sive cultivation. With an adequate
supply of water, farm of 5 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, man attempts to
hold $50 acres of land completely ir
rigated by government work, he is
preventing others from acquiring a
home, and is actually keeping down
the population of the state.
To Check Speculation.
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
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 that during the ten years of
payment the area assigned for each
family shall be sufficient to support
it, When once the farms have been
fully titled by freeholders, little danger
of land monopoly will remain.
Should Support Officers.
This great meeting of practical irri-
gators should give particular atten-
ton 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 govern
ment in making the reclamation law
successful in all respects, and partlc-
ularly in getting back the original in
vestment, so that the money may be
used again and again in the compile
ton of other projects and thus in the
general extension of prosperity in the
west. Until it has been proved that
| this great investment Of $40,000,000 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 direct apprO-
priations for the work Let US give
the reclamation service a chance to
utilize the present investment a Sec
ond time before discussing such in
crease l look forward with great
confidence to the result.
The Forest Service.
| 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 was created when the
charge of the forest reserves was
transferred from the interior depart
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
l have often said on the vigorous pur-
pose to make every resource 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 de-
stroyed 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 cultivates his
own land. l 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 con-
servatively. We propose to do this
through the Aeest and most cordial