The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1907-07-05

suits that homes are being provided
for our people and that the whole re-
clamation fabric is indeed of good
cloth, we will be listened to by the
lawmakers of the Union n our re-
quests and arguments will be needed.
The one grand object which is desira-
bic of attainment is the reclamation
of the largest area possible and the
settling upon the reclaimed are the
largest possible number of human be-
ings. But there are other reasons as
well-reasons why we should stand
together in line of battle and make
this a glorious fight to a finish. 1 may
be subject to the criticism of holding
socialistic ideGs5 but what if I am ?
As a distinguished writer has said
upon this subject
Il believe it is everlastilgly true
that we are fighting for the preserva-
ton of h American ideal-aye-and
for its extension to meet demands i'm
posed upon us by new conditions and
fresh events. What is this policy of
national irrigation in its deep, gener-
&c sense? | say to you that this aSser
t1ol of national power in the creation
and management of public utilities
this expenditure of national capital
for the direct and lasting benefit of
the masses-is the most momentous
step in our social history since the
abolition of negro slavery. We are
applying new principles to the prob
lens of our new country. Carried to
their logical conclusion, they mean a
new birth of institutions, based on
the recognition of the nations right
and the nations duty to do for its PEG
pie whatever shall be necessary to
their greatest happiness and their
truest welfare. In the hour of peril,
it will be the derided desert which
shall save the republic by keeping it
true to its primitive ideals-set to the
music of a new time"
1T is an endless battle to be free.
AS the old dangers lessen from the
skies
New dangers arise;
Down the long centuries eternally,
Again, again, will rise Thermopylae-
Again. again, a new Leonidas
Must hold for God the imperilled pass.
AS the long ages run
New Lexington will rise on Lexington
And many a valorous Warren fall
Upon the Imperilled wall.
Man is he colstript of an endless
quest.
A long-divine adventure without rest
A holy war, a battle yet unwon
When ne shall climb beyond the burnt
out sun.
Each hard earne freedom withers to
a bond;
Freedom forever is beyond-Beyond."
And now, men and women, of New
Mexico, let me say in conclusion.
This great system of irrigation has
been made possible through the eff
forts of men who were not impelIed
by selfish motives. In the earliest
days of the discussion of government
tai aid for reclamation pos New
MeXicO's representatives and cham
pions were always present and poten-
tial influence. Governor Prince of
this territory, since the inception Of
the national plan has been among the
foremost in argument and achieve
ment; all ono is due to him for his
efforts in behalf of our people. When
the first national irrigation congress
was bout to be held, the leading pa
per at Albuquerque the writer of
which is here today il an editorial up
on the subject addressed to the con-
gress-amOng other things said: The
reclamation of the arid public lands is
as legitimately a national enterprise
as the Louisiana purchase or the &C
QUESTION of Alaska and one fraught
with quite as beneficial consequences
and results to the people of the Unit
ed States" That editorial was writ
ten seventeen years ago. 1t is then
peculiarly fitting that we New Mexi-
can should be the first to celebrate
the completion of a system construc-
ted under the provisions of an act,
the passage of which we were the first
to advocate. 1t is peculiarly fitting
that in a portion of the United States
where irrigation was practiced long
before the Christian era, we are today
celebrating the first efforts of a great
government in great irrigation poll
cies. the Aztec n his predeceS-
scr We're ~irrigatorS. The Aztec and
cliff dweller-all have passed
away but the ruins and traces of pre-
historic irrigation canals are their
mOnuments-the all distinctive proof
they were not a barbarous people
state Colorado, in his argument before
the Supreme Court of the United
States, in the famous Kansas-C Colorado
case relative to the rights of water
in the Arkansas Valley-in eth
er state-quotilg from an unnamed au
a most pertinent passage of dig
and majestic ~eloquence, said
Although the tomb of Moses is IN
known. the traveller of today Stakes
thirst at the we'll of Jacob. The
gorgeous palaces of the wisest and
"Sdllu1SSl u HIOIdICuSN WIFI IIelT /
cedar, n gold n ivory, and even
great temple of Jerusalem, ha1low-
ed by the visible glory of the Deity
Himself, are gone: but Solomon's
reservoirs are as perfect as ever. OF
h magnificent and costly architec-
ture of the Holy City, not one stone
is left upon another, but the pool of
Bethesda commands the Pilgrims re-
verence at the present day. The col
1mns of Persepolis are moldering in
dust, but its cisterns and aqueduct re-
main to challenge our admiration.
The golden house of Nero Is a mass of
but the Aqua Claudia still
pours into the City of Rome its hmpid
stream. The Temple of the Sun. at
Tadmor in the wilderness, has fallen,
but its fountain sparkles II the rays
Of the morning as when thousands of
.orsnipers thronged the lofty COLON
And if work of this gen
grafton shall rise over the deep ocean
Of time, we may well believe that 1t
will be neither a palace nor a temple,
put some vast a%queduct or reservoir;
and if any name shall hereafter lash
brightest through the mist of antiqui-
y. it will probably be that of a man