Devils Lake inter-ocean and Devils Lake free press. (Devils Lake, Ramsey County, N.D.) 1905-1909, 1907-12-06

should be Kept free from every faint Of
recklessness or jobbery. The inland
waterways which lie just back of the
whole eastern and southern coasts
should likewise be developed More
over, the development Of our water
ways Involves many other important
water problems, all Of which should be
considered as part Of the same general
scheme. The 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 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 it al
ready is one Of the most fertile farm
ing regions in all the world. I have
appointed an inland waterways COM.
mission to study and outline conpre-
hensive scheme of development along
all the lines indicated. Later I shall
lay it's 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 it 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 1t for themselves end for their
children and children's children. There
has been, Of course, opposition to this
work-oppos 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
well 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 1t would
be utterly wrong to allow few in
5 dividuals 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-
naanent common advantage Of the peo-
pie as whole. -; -..:~s... =
[. rs #.2s- 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
5tatns and much of, the Pacific slope.
where a farm OF 100 acres 5is made
.Quate orSsels support. In these Sre-
gtons, the system lent itself to fraud.
and much land passed out OF the hands
fof the government without passing fnto
the hands OF the 3homemaka The de-
parment OF, the interior and the de-
4 partment OF justice Joined in prosecute
/ ing the offenders against tho law, and
they have accomplished much, while
III "
has been defective It mas been changed.
But the laws themselves are defective.
Three years age a !pu hlic lands com
mission was 4 PIP inted to scrutinize the
law ana defects and il END u n
remedy heir exam nst mi si,ecislcs
ally showed the eS is..sss II e IN;
fraud upon the. nup domain. l IL
their omnei II. ttl.,. b Isl
the law We're maj &
conserving the natlstss
every part of the lsy pun.
ting It to It's best Il
GssEFeIneng FE.
areas of sss !. land INTO the hands oe
and is
caused BY unrest taa L.
the open ral1
of the pn NJ.
sound for they q Sc III
terest of the a. u 1 a
where the smaI $hoIn emf kcri ca mat 81.