Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1907-12-04

) resources. 10 skin and exhaust the
land Instead Of using il so as to in
crease its usefulness, VIII result IN
undermining in the days Of our chill
dren the very prosperity which we
ought by right to hand down to them
amplifed and developed. For the last
few years, through several agencies.
the government has been e~ndeavoring
TO get our people to look ahead ana
to substitute "A planned and orderly
development of our in place
Of a h%aphazard striving for immediate
profit. Our great river systems
should be developed as national wa
ter highways. the Mississippi, with its
tributaries. standing first in i'm
%portance, and the Columbia second,
although there are many others of I'M
pOrtance on the Pacific, the atlantic
and the Gulf slopes. The national
government should undertake this
work, and | hope a beginning will be
made in the present congress-; and
the greatest of all our rivers, the
Mississippi. should receive especial at
ton. From the Great Lakes to the
mouth of the Mississippi there should
be a 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 very heart of our
country. 1t would be of incalcuable
'NAAIAAN ~ ~ bAbDAt - ~ -
once 1t can be carried through in time
appreciably to relieve the congestion
of our great freight-carrying lines of
railroads. The work should be sys-
tematically n continuously carried
forward in accordance with some well
conceived plan. The main streams
should be improved to the highest
point Of efficiency before the improve
ments of the branches is attempted:
and the work 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. Moreover, the develop
ment of our waterways involves
many other important water prob
lens, all of which should be consi-
dered as part of the same general
scheme. The government dams
should be used to produce hundreds
of thousands of horsepower as an in
cident to improving navigation: for
the annual value of the unused water
power of the United States perhaps
exceeds the annual value of the pro-
ducts of all our mines As an incl
dent to creating the deep waterway
down the Mississippi, the government
should build along its whole lower
length levees which taken together
with the control Of the headwaters,
will at once and forever put "A COM
plete stop to all threats 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 pros
porous and populous, as it already is
one of the most fertile, farming re-
giOns in all the world. | have APP
pointed an inland waterways com
mission to study and outline a com
prehensive scheme of development
along all the lines indicated. Later I
lay its report before the con
gress.
Reclamation Work.
Irrigation should be far more ex-
tensively developed than at present.
only in the states of the Great
and the Rocky mountains. but
in many others, as for instance. in
portions of the South Atlantic
and Gulf states, where il should go
hand in hand with the reclamation
Of swamp land. The federal govern
ment shout seriously devote itself to
this task. realizing that utilization of
waterways and water-power, forestry.
irrigation, and the reclamation of
lands threatened with overflow, are
all interdependent parts of the same
problem. The work of the rcclama-
lion service in developing the larger
opportunities Of the western half of
our country for irrigation Is more Inn
portant than almost any other move
mcnt The constant purpose Of the
government in connection with the re-
service has beer TO use the
water resources of the public lands
the ultimate greatest good of the
greatest number: in other words to
put upon the land permanent home
makers, to use and develop 1t for
themselves and for their children and
,hildren's children. There has been,
II course, opposition TO this work;
opposition from some Interested men
who desire to exhaust the land for
heir " immediate profit without
to the welfare Of the next
generation, and opposition from hon
81 and w"ell-meaning men who did
rot fully understand the subject or
Who did not look far enough ahead. ,
Ihis opposition is. | think. dying
and our people are understand
ng that IL would he utterly wrong I
% allow a few individuals to exhaust !
or their own temporary personal
'roht the which ought TO ,
'e developed through use so as to be I
'onscerVe for the permanent common
-~dvantage of the people as a whole. d
Public Lands. 2
inc ehort OF the government to deal !
with the public land has been based Z,
the same principle as that Of :
he reclamation service. The land law \
which was designated to meet Z
he needs of the fertile and we'll Z
vatcrcd regions Of the middle west q
las largely broken down when APP !.
lied 10 the dryer regions Of the Great !,
'lains, the mountains. and much Of q
he Pacific slope, where q farm Of "
so acres is inadequate for self-sup- D
.ort. In these regions the system 2
INT itself to fraud. and much LAND =
assed out Of the hands OF the gov 4
without passing into the Il
Hnds Of the home-maker. The de- %
OF the interior and the de- Il
artment OF Justice Joined in pros =
cutting the offenders against the law. y
they have accomplished much. !,
lille where the administration Of the 4.
has been defective 81 mas bccn IN
hanged. But the laws themselves are tf
elective. Three years ago a public m
commission was appointed 10 =
the law. and defects. and \.
commended a remedy. Their ex- I,
specifically showed the ex- pi
tence OF great fraud upon the puh- ~
e land into the hands II q few mon a.
ons for changes On the law were 4,
.ade with the design Of conserving !.
BE- natural OF every mart III
the public lands by putting ID fo "a
g best use. Especial was NJ
He'd to the prevention of setfiement %
the passage of great areas of pub- 8
land into the hamdh of "a few men -
60 D enormous waste causeH nv ~
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