Daily Arizona silver belt., 1907-09-03

l tions of the country, in fact, in almost every section, we have denuded our lands of timber in what now seems to have been almost a wanton fashion. We have thought only of today, having nc proper regard for the future. The de mand of the country for timber needed to build our railways, construct our cities and homes has been tremendous | We have cut away our forests and paid no attention to the necessity of taking steps for their ultimate restoration. We now see what some of the older eoun- tries in their experience have seen, that it is necessary to adhere to 2 rational scientific forestry system, not only in the interest of our future forests but in the interest of the important sub jccts of irrigation and navigation. lt is but truism that if the forests are swept away, the rainfall quickly flows into the streams and is washed into Che sea, whereas if the trees are properly preserved upon the watersheds, the rain fall and melting snows are stored in na- ture s reservoirs and are gradually fed into the streams for the benefit of both agriculture and navigation.
 We have not fully begun to appreei- ate the full value of our streams and rivers. We have not fairly begun to ap- propriate them to the benefit of our agriculture, industry and commerce. The waters which come down from the sides of these mountains may be con verted into electrical power and carried hundreds of miles with but little loss tO the initial energy and appropriated 10 lighting and heating cities, operating mines and driving the wheels of indus. try. We have thousands of miles of rivers which may be made nayigable with little expense to the government compared with the benefits flowing from their use in carrying commerce. There are thousands of miles of rivers which are navigable in degree, but which should be deepened and improved so as to meet our growing needs. It is i'm possible to give too much emphasis to the importance of this subject. Our rivers are the natural highways of com merce and the growing density of our population and the increase of our pro duction make it essential that there should be additional facilities to insure cheap and ready transportation. The capacity of the railways of the country is already taxed to the utmost and the rapid development of traffic makes t necessary that we should largely aug ment the means of carrying it in the future. Moreover there is no better equalizer of rates than water eompeti- tion. Water transportation is n per petual and certain guarantee against monopoly on the part of common car riers.
 We are earnestly carrying forward the construction of the Panama canal, confessedly a work of great importance not only to our commerce but to the commerce of the world Important as this matter is, it is not more important than the improvement of navigation upon many of our rivers. The improve ment of navigation upon them may well go hand in hand with work upon the great canal. The one is in a very con siderable degree the complement of the other. This is 3 large subject and must be considered in a large way.
 Upon such an occasion as this I would not venture to obtrude politics; nothing could be more inappropriate. The fact is that we have surfeit of politics. What we need is more business and less politics. Unless the business affairs of the people are arrested by unwise poli- cies, unless the seeds of distrust are sown among ourselves, unless our com mercial unrest is encouraged by doctrin- aires, we shall continue to expand our industries and the great west will con tinue to grow and fulfill her mighty destiny. Can we stand prosperity! We are in the midst of a prosperity the like of which was never before seen. Can we utilize it to our benefit? Can we retain it or will we distrust each other and involve all in hopeless confu- sion2 There never was an hour when it was moro important that we should be governed by sober judgment. We should sedulously cultivate a tolerant spirit and spirit of justice towards each other. We should not forget that confidence is the sure foundation of prosperity and progress, and we should have a care that we do not undermine it. Our rapidly multiplying industries and increasing population give rise to new questions which tax the wisdom and patriotism of our people. In recent years we have out of the evils which inhered in our commerce between the states, under the sharp and certain con demnation of the written law. We have sought to extirpate them in the interest of fair play. We have proceeded ad- visedly, not blindly, to destroy the bad and preserve the good.f We are bringing to the solution of these and other prob lems an enlightened judgment and ex- alted purpose. We are solving them and will continue to solve them ac- cording to the principles of justice and in the interest of wholesome trade and commerce.. The American people do not go far astray because there is q national conscience which never sleeps and their conclusions are reached by it's unfailing light.