Arizona republican., 1907-12-04


 the advisability of a National system Of inspection and grading Of grain en- tering into interstate and foreign com merce as remed.- for the present evils
 Internal Waterways.
 "The conservation Of our nationa resources and their proper use constj- ute the fundamental problem which underlies almost every other problem of our National life. We must pain- tain for our civilization the adequate material basis without which that civ ilization can not exist. We must show foresight. we must look ahead As a nation we not only enjoy a wonderful measure of present prosperity but if this prosperity is used alright il is an earnest of future success such as no other nation will have The reward of foresight for this Nation is great and easily fOretold. But there must be the look ahead, there must be a realization of the fact that to waste. to destroj [. our natural resources. to skin ard eN- haust the land instead of using II so as to increase its usefulness. wlll re- suit in undermining in the days of our children the very prosperity which we ought b. right to hand do Vn to them amolified and developed. For the last few years. through several agencies. the Government has been endeavoring to get our people to look ahead and to substitute planned and orderly development of our resources in place of a haDhazard striving for immediate profit. Our grea: river sys- tems should be developed as National water highways: the Mississippi. with its tributaries. standing first in import ance. and the Columbia second. all though there are man., others of i'm portance O. the Pacific. the Atlantic and the Gulf slopes. The National Government should undertake this work. and hope a beginning swill be made in the present Congress: and the greatest Of all ot our rivers. the Mississippi. should receive especial at tention. From the Great Lakes to the mouth of the Mississippi there should be deep waterway. with deep water ways leading from it to the East and the West Such a waterway would practically mean the extension Of our coast line into the Ver.' heart of eur country. It would be of incalculable benefit to our people. If begun at once it can be carried through in time appreaiable to relieve the congestion of our great freight carrying lines of rali- rodds. The work should be svstem- atically and continuously carried for ward in accordance with some we'll conceived plan. The main streams should be improved to the highest point of efficiency before the improve ment of the branches is attempted: and the work should be kept free from every taint of recklessness or jobbery The inland waterways which lie just back of the whole eastern and southern coasts should likewise be developed Moreover. the development of our wa terways involves many other import ant water problems. all of which should be considered as part of the same general scheme. The Govern ment dams should be used to produce hundreds of thousands of horsepower as an incident to improving navigation: for the annual value of the unused water-power of the United States per haps exceeds the annual value of the products of all our mines. As an in- cident to creating the deep waterway down the Mississippi. the Government should build along it's whole lower length levees which taken together with the control of the headwaters. will at once and forever put a complete stop to- all threat of floods in the inn mensely fertile Delta region. The ter ritory lying adjacent to the Mississippi along it's lower course will thereby be- come o2e oe the most prosperous and populous. as it alread:' is one of the most fertile. farming regions in all the world. l have appointed an Inland Waterway Commission to study and outline comprehensive scheme of de- velopment along the lines indicated. Later I shall la- its report before the Congress.
 Arid and Swamp Lands.
 Irrigation should be far more ex- tensively developed than at present. not onl.- in the States of the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains. but in many others. as. for instance. in large portions of the South Atlantic