Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1907-12-03
should be kept free from every faint Of

Waterways WHICH lie just pdSh VI tue
whole eastern and southern coasts
should likewise be developed. More
over. the development of our water
ways invos'es many other important
water problems, all of which should be
considered rs part of the same general
scheme Tire government dams should
be used to produce hundreds Of thou
| sands of horsepower as an incident to
improving navigation. for the annual
value of the unused water power of
| the United States perhaps exceeds the
| annual value of the products of all our
| mines. AS an incident to creating the
| deep waterway down the Mississippi
| the government should build along its
whole lower length levees which, tax
en- together with the control of the
headwaters, will at once and forever
put a complete stop to all threat of
floods in the immensely fertile delta
region. The territory lying adjacent
to the Mississippi along its lower
course will thereby become one of the
most prosperous and populous as 1t al
ready'is one of the most fertile farm
ing regions in all the world. l have
appointed an inland waterways COM
mission to study and outline a compre-
hensiye scheme of development along !
all the lines indicated. Later l shall
lay its report before the congress.
Reclamation Work.
Irrigation should be far more extern
sively developed than at present, not
only in the states of the great plains
and the Rocky mountains, but in many
others-as, for instance. in large por-
tons of the south Atlantic and gulf
states. where 1t should go hand in
hand with the reclamation of swamp
land The federal government should
seriously devote itself to this task.
realizing that utilization of waterways
and water power, forestry, irrigation
and the reclamation of lands threat
ened with overflow are all interde-
pendent parts of the same problem.
The work of the reclamation service In
developing the larger opportunities of
the western half of our country for
irrigation is more important than al
most any other movement. The con-
slant purpose of the government in
connection with the reclamation serv-
ice has been to use the water resources
OF the public lands for the ultimate
greatest good of the greatest number
in other words, to put upon the land
permanent homemakers, to use and
develop it for themselves and for their
children and children's children. There
has been, of course. opposition to this
work-opposition from some interested
men who desire TO exhaust the land
for their own immediate profit without
regard to the welfare of the next gen
Grafton and opposition from honest and
we'll meaning men who did not fully
understand the subject or who did not
look far enough ahead. This opposi
ton is, think, dying away. and our
people are understanding that it would
lie utterly wrong to allow a few in
divfdualS to exhaust for their own
! temporary personal profit the resources
: which ought to be developed through
use so as TO be conserved for the per-
{ manent common advantage of the peo-
y pie as whole.
Public Lands.
The effort of the government to deal
with the public land has been based
upon the same principle as that of the
reclamation service. The land law sys-
TEN which was designed to meet the
needs of the fertile and well watered
regions of the middle west has largely
broken down when applied to the drier
regions of the great plains, the noun
4 tains and much of the Pacific slope.
where a farm of 100 acres is made
4 quate for self support. In these re-
e gions. the system lent itself to fraud.
r and much land passed out of the hands
IT of the government without passing into
n the hands of the homemaker. The de-
II partment of the interior and the de-
n partment of justice joined in prescott
t: ing the offenders against the law, and
@ they have accomplished much, while
If where the administration of the law
r has been defective it has been changed.
If But the laws themselves are defective.
N Three years ago a public lands COM
,r mission was appointed to scrutinize the
L. law and defects and recommend 4
remedy. Their examination specific
ct ally showed the existence of great
al fraud upon the public domain. and
ID their recommendations for changes in
is the law were made with the design of
lg conserving the natural resources of
v every part of the public lands by put
TO ting it to its best use. Especial atten-
e. ton was called to the prevention of
RS settlement by the passage of great
n areas Of public land into the hands of a
IT few men and to the enormous waste
re caused by unrestricted grazing upon
of the open range. The recommendations
I'd of the public lands commission arc
II sound, for they are especially in the in
p terest of the actual homemaker, and
ne where the small homemaker cannot al
d. present utilize the land they provide
n that the government shall keep control
~ of 1t 50 that it may not be monopoliz
ic. ed by few men. The congress has
he not yet acted upon these recommends
he tons, but they are SO just and proper
i'll so essential to our national welfare
III that l feel confident If the congress:
is | will take time To consider them thpy