Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-12-04
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FOUR

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 it's
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 it's 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. have
appointed an inland waterways com
mission to study and outline compre-
hensiye scheme of development along
all the lines indicated. Later shall
lay Its report before the congress.
Reclamation Work.
Irrigation should be far more extern
siveIy 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.
Ghe work OF therecIama ton 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-
stant purpose Of the government in
connection with the reclamat don sery-
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 hoTnemakers, to use and
develop It for themselves and for their
children and ehildren'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 gem
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. I think, dying away, ana our
people are understand ding that 1T would
be utterly wrong to allow a few in.
dividuals to exhaust for their own
temporary personal profit the resources
which ought to be developed through
use so ais to be conserved for the per.
manent common advantage OF the PEG
pie as a whole.
Public Lands.
The effort Of the government to dea.
with the public land has been based
upon the same principle as that of the
reclamation service. The land law sys
tenn which WAS designed to meet the
needs Of the fertile and well waterel
regions Of the middle west has largely
broken down w hen applied to the driel
regions OF the great plains, the noun
tains and much Of the Pacific slope
where farm Of 100 acres LIS made
quate for self support. In these Re
gions, the system lent itself to fraud
and much land passed out OF the handi
Of the government without passing int
the hands Of the homemaker. The de
partment Of the interior and the de
partment OF justice joined In prosecut
ing the offenders against the law, ant
they have accomplished much, while
where the administration of the Law
has been defective it has been changed
But the laws themselves are defective
Three years ago a public lands com
mission was appointed to scrutinize th,
law and defects and recommend !.
remedy Their examination specific
ally showed the existence Of grea
fraud upon the public domain, AMI
their recommendation for changes ii
the law were made with the design d
\ conserving the natural resources O
every part OF the public lands by put
ting it to Its best use. Especial atten
ton was called to the prevention o
settlement by the passage Of grea
areas of public land into the hands Of
few men and to the enormous vast
caused by unrestricted grazing upol
the open range. The recommendati
OF the public lands commission ar,
4 sound, for they are especially In the In
4 ferest Of the actual homemaker, ant
where the small homemaker cannot a
present utilize the land they provid,
that the government shall keep contro
of It 80 that It may not be monopoliz
B ed BY a few men. The congress hal