Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1907-11-29

ida ana fastened itself upon the people
of our own land. But when the Span
war was ended Major
General Leonard Wood, better known
by his truer title as DR. Leonard Wood,
the private physician OF President Nc
Kinley, invaded Cuba aud Porto Rico
with cleansing water. The miasmatic
swamps, where were Matched the dead
~ moQuitoes which carried the fatal
germs, were drained of. The streets
were cleansed and the awful plague of
yellow fever was stamped out. The
tropics were made inhabituble for
white men. Water. cleansing water, is
the greatest enemy OF disease of all
sorts. Thank God for the water with
which we wash. Thank him for the
water with which we are making man
u healthy animal, able to overcome all
diseases except the fatal disease of old
age.
Wster and the Farms.
We must also thank God for the wa
ter which gives drink to our corn and
wheat aud barley and oats and gives
drink to our potatoes and peas and to-
matoes and gives drink to our orchards
and trees OF all sorts. The vegetables.
like man. are dependent upon water
for their existence. Without water it
Is an absolute impossibility to run n
farm. If two or three "dry years" fol-
low each other. whole valleys and re-
gfons are depopulated. l remember in
the summer Of 1896 camping I'm q long
valley which was once filed with
farms and schoolhouses and churches.
The buildings were there, but the
houses were vacant There were
churches there, but no ministers. There
were schoolbouses.. but neither scholars
nor teachers There were farmhcuses.
but no families dwelling within. There
were farms, but no crops. What was
the matter? The wheat and the grain
and the oats and the barley and the
fruit or the orchards IN vain had cried,
Drink, drink, give us drinkr The
drought kept on and the land became
as hard and as dry as the bricks in the
potter's kiln. oh. today, when you
read the returns Of our annual har-
vests, thank God not more for the soil
than for the water which has made the
earth yield her increase. Thank God
for abundant water, the pure life Civ
Ing water. for the water which has
made the farm n full larder for pros
porous nation.
But we must also thank God for the
water turning the miller's wheel which
grinds the grain into flour. We must
thank him for the factories upon the
Merrimac which weave the cotton into
cloth as well rs for the cotton planta-
lions of Georgia and Louisiana and
Mississippi. Water is the motive pow
er OF the one and the producer of the
other. We must thank llNn for the wa
ter which produces the gigantic trees.
We must also thank him for the water
which makes the lumberman's saw
whirl round and round and cuts the
rough logs into smooth boards out of
which we build our homes and stores
and factories. When we think of a
factory town for the most part we pic-
ture the heavens blackened with smoke
from scores and hundreds OF furnaces
but there are thousands OF factories
run by water alone. The wafer of
these streams not only irri-ates the
soil In which the crops are grown. but
supplies the power which changes the
raw materials into the finished prod
ucts OF the markets.
Our Water Highways.
But we have still another reason why
the American nation should be thank
full for It's water. 1t produces the grain
and the cotton and turns the wheels OF
the factory. 1t also furnishes the great
highways over which the commodities
OF one apart Of the country are trans
ported TO other parts OF the country.
and this blessing IS not confined TO our
long coast waterways which the Pana-
ma canal will soon connect, but Il also
includes our vast network OF nayjgab BILE
river and lake systems which for
years offered the only practical means
OF INSTRUMENTATION between differ.
ent parts OF our land.
Open your map and study In the first
place that vast water system which
starts from New York city and moves
up ,through the Hudson river. then ON
through the Erie canal and through
Lakes Ontario and Erie and Huron
and Michigan and Superior. Have YOU
ever stoppei to think what such n sys-
tenn OF waterways means to our nation
rom commercial standpoint? In or
der to make this system complete De
Witt Clinton inaugurated the most stu
pendous engineering feat Of that age.
the building OF the Erie canal. The
state OF New York to complete this
canal oOSga;cI -. Slr to pay the vast
sum of $1o.Cro.J0J. When the canal
was finished there was Il national hol-
iday of thanksgiving. Yet the Erie CO.
nal is only Il small part of the iun-
1reds of miles OF inland waterway over
which today great fleets of ships
crowded with passengers and millions
or tons OF freight are annually carried.
Then study your vast Mississippi
water system The recent trip OF the
president Of the United States down
this river visiting the great cities
which line its banks has illustrated for
me public mind what this river and it's
mean 10 us as a nation.
What would vicksburg and Cairo and
Memphis and st. Louis and Kansas
City and Keokuk and Davenport and
st. Paul and Louisville and Cincinnati
and Wheeling and Pittsburg do with
out this vast system OF Mississippi wa
terways? This river and its tributaries
founded these cities as the Michigan
lake made Chicago. That river is one
OF the great arteries carrying the life
blood OF our nation.
The Coast Waterways.
Then open your map again and study
the vast waterway system of our coast