The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1907-07-05

in the midst of the valleys. l will
make the wilderness a pool of water
aid h dry lands springs of water.
II will plant in the wilderness the ce-
dar and the myrtle and the oil tree.
l will set in the desert the fir tree and
the pine n the box tree together.
The wilderness and the solitary
places shall be glad for them and the
desert shall rejoice and blossom as
a rose."
These ceremonies today are com,
memorative of an event of vital con
Germ not only to the people of New
Mexico but also to the entire Ameri-
can nation. We are celebrating the
system constructed, fostered and cam
pleted under the provisions of the
Reclamation Act. We are witness
ing the fruition of the hopes IN the
fulfilment of the prophecies of the
irrigation pioneers whose faith has
been as countless rs the sands of
this valleyy-as firm as our snow
clad mountain ranges, the source
of hat life-giving element whose
Midas-touch will turn these desert
sands to gold.
The pioneers in the consideration
and discussion of the policies of the
national government, as pronounced
in the Reclamation Act, leading
government airrigation experts, farm
ers, fruit growers, engineers bust
ness men, officials, lawmakers and
the chosen executive of a sovereign
people are today in happy mood,
knowing that under the provisions
of one of the most important acts
of the American Congress, the peo-
pies money mas been here expended,
not only for the benefit of those
90 Is I@~,A lr;lI1-- -, 49,, 7
whose Individual efforts proved in
sufficient and unavailing, but for
those later settlers and for genera
lions yet unborn; that those VINO
once sowed with hearts depressed
with fears-who reaped with tears,
may hereafter witness, with hopeful
spirit. the piercing of these arid
wastes with tiny blades of promise,
surely to be g~Iaddened by a harvest
of plenty at the promised period.
In the completion of this irrigation
system we see the results, not only of
ripened wisdom but, objects attained
through the enthusiastic efforts of
young men, firm in convictions inner
ent to the vigor and earnestness of
buoyant youth.
The Inauguration of this great sys-
tenn is the death knell of the pessi-
mist and crOaking Jeremiah as to the
irrigation policies of the national gov
eminent. The day of academic dis
cussion has passed. The time for do
ing things has come. We are today
seated at a table at which will be wit
messed an eXemplification of the old
saying-The proof of the pudding is
in the chewing the string thereof.
Those differences of opilion-honeSt
though they may have been-and To-
cal a1fhn10n. tF1nu -uhjah nnan
threatened the passage of the Act un-
der which this system has been con
structed no longer exist and it only
remains for you, my friends, by the
manual labor which you must scienti-
fically and in~telligently perform, to
demonstrate to the great American
tax payer that national aid to irriga-
ton and reclamation has not been and
shall not De unworthily bestowed.
Great has been the improvement in
the Pecos Valley without national
aid. When first it was my good for
tune to become a citizen of New Mex
ico-a quarter of a century ago-these
vast areas, these painless plains were
the paradise of the cattle man, the
home of the jack-rabbit and coyote,
and yet, within one short decade, a
transformation has cen wrought by
the toiling hands of the home-builder
the true foundation stone of national
and national security. All his
has been N without governmental
aid, and if such things may be done
by such agencies in so brief a period
through individual effort. how much
more is to be expected with the Ia
tional guaranty and support so bounti-
given to the tiller of the soil?
Those of us who knew the life of the
city, T familiar with its ~congested
conditions, who have seen men and
women forced through lack of means
to stay and Starve out their lives and
will yet witness those unhappy
souls located upon an irrigated farm
in one of our valleys, each content
with his own lot and rejoicing in the
title of American citizen. AS the
parched soil of these plains welcomes
the water wnicn God and Government
will give it let us welcome that happy
day when the reclamation of these
arid acres will engender in the heart
the American boy a desire to be a
and a producer, rather than an
ambition to dip into the whirlpool of
city life with all it's dangerous and
agencies. We may not live
to see this condition brought to pass,
but for sucn efforts as nave been
made by all OF us, millions of people
yet unborn will rise up and call us
blessed.
The President If the United States
has said:
"The reclamation and settlement of
arid lands will enrich every por-
ton of our country. just as The settle
ment of the Ohio and Mississippi val
Ieys brought prosperity to the Allan
lie states. The increased demand for
articles will stimulate
production. while wider
markets and foreign trade will
consume the larger food supplies and
prevent western competi-
ion with eastern agriculture. Indeed
products of irrigation will be con-
CHIEFLY in u~pbuiEing local cen
.ers of mining and other industries,
which would otherwise not come into
existence at all. Our people as a
whole will profit, for successful home
making is but another name for the
of the nation
I'm all the history OF the world no
lation has eve entered upon an un-
lertaking of more stupendous magni-
ude, or n more potent with kreater
issuance of benefits to the people of
country. The opportunities for en-