Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1907-10-02
President Roosevelt Believes They Are
Among Nations Greatest Assets
Chief Executive Outlines Policy This Subject in Ad
dress Today at ST. Louis Again Declares For Bigger
and Better Navy--.Has Pleasant Voyage
Down Mississippi River

| the supervision Of and by the aid OF
the federal government. This is es
pecially true of all that concerns our
running waters. On the mountains
from which the springs start we are
now endeayOring to preserve the for.
ests which regulate the water supply
and prevent too startling variations
between droughts and freshets. Be.
low the mountains, in the high dry re.
gions of the western plains, we en-.
deayor to secure the proper utiliza
tion of the waters for irrigation. This
is at the sources of the streams. Far.
ther down, where they become navi-
gable, our aim must be to try to de-
velop policy which shall secure the
utmost advantage from the navigable
waters. Finally, on the lower courses
Of the Mississippi, the nation should
do its full share in the work of levee
building, and incidentally to its pur.
pose OF serving navigation, this will
also prevent the ruin of alluyial bot.
toms by floods. Our knowledge is not
sufficiently far advanced to enable me
to speak definitely as to the plans
which should be adopted; but let me
say one word of warning: The dan.
ger of entering on any such scheme
lies in the adoption Of impossible and
undesirable plans, plans the adoption
OF which means an outlay of money
extrayagant beyond all proportion to
the return, or which, though feasible,
are not, relatively to other plans, OF
an importance which warrant their
adoption. 1t will not be easy to Sc.
cure the assent of fundamentally
cautious people like our own to the
adoption of such policy as that !
5ope 20 see adopted; and even II we
begin to follow out such policy it
certainly will not be persevered In If
it Is found to entail reckless extrava.
gance or to be tainted with jobbery.
The interests of the nation as a whole
must be always the first consideration.
"This is properly a national move
ment, because all interstate and for
e'gn commerce, and the Improvements
and methods of carrying it on, are sub
jects for national action. Moreover,
while of course the matter of the i'm
provement of the Mississippi river
and its tributaries is one which es.
pecially concerns the great middle por-
tion of our country, the region be.
tween the Alleghenies and the Rock.
les, yet it is of concern to the rest OF
the country also, for it can not too
often be said that whatever is really
beneficial to one part of our country is
ultimately of benefit to the whole.
Exactly as it is good thing for the
interior Of our country that the sea-
ports on the Atlantic and the Pacific
and the Gulf should be safe and com.
modious, so it is to the interest of
the dwellers on the coast that the in.
terror should possess ample facilities
for the transportation of its products.
Our interests are all closely inter.
woven, and In the long run 1t will be
found that we go up or go down to-
gether.
Must Build Up and Maintain a Fight
ing Navy.
Now, gentlemen, this leads me up
to another matter for national consid.
Grafton and that is our Navy. The
navy is not primarily of Importance
only to the coast regions. 1t is every
bit as much the concern of the farm
er who dwells thousand miles from
sea water as of the fisherman who
makes his living on the ocean, for it
is the concern of every good American
who knows what the meaning of the
word patriotism is. This country is
definitely committed to certain funda-
mental policies-to the Monroe doc
trine, for instance, and to the duty not
only of building, but, when it is built,
of policing and defending the Panama
Canal We have definitely taken our
place among the great world powers
and it would be sign Of ignoble
weakness, having taken such a place,
to shirk it's responsibilities. Therefore,
unless we are willing TO abandon this
place, to abandon our insistence upon
the Monroe doctrine, to give up the
Panama Canal, and to be content to
acknowledge ourselves weak and
timid nation, We must steadily build
up and maintain great fighting navy
In conclusion I wish to say word
to this body, containing as 1t does so
many business men, upon what is pre-
eminently business proposition, and
that is the proper national supervision
and control Of corporations. At the
meeting Of the American Bar associ.
alton in this last August, Judge Charles
F. Amidon, Of North Dakota, read a
paper on the Nation and the Constitu-