The semi-weekly messenger., 1907-12-06
THE PRESIDENTS MESSAGE
Continued from fourth page.)

and pOpulOuS, as it already Is one of
the most fertile, farming regions of
the world. I have appointed an in
land waterways commission to study
and outline a comprehensive scheme
of development along all the lines in
dicated. Later | shall lay it's report
before the congress.
RECLAMATION WORK.
Irrigation should be lar more ox-
tensively developed than at present,
not only in the states of the Great
Plains and the Rocky Mountains. but
in many others. as. for instance, n
large portions of the South Atlantic
and Gudf states, where it 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 threatened with overflow, are
all interdependent parts of the same
problem. The work of the reclama-
ton service in developing the larger
opportunities of the western half Of
our country for irrigation is more i'm
portant than almost any other move
ment The constant purpose of the
government in connection with the
reclamation service has been to use
the water resources of the public
lands for the ultimate greatest good
of the greatest number; in other words
to no
makers, to use and develop it for
themselves and for their children and
children's children. There has been,
of course, opposition to his work
opposition from some interested men
who desire to exhaust the land for
their own immediate profit without re-
gard to the welfare Of the next gene
ration, and opposition from honest
and Well-meaning men who did not
fully understand the subject or VINO
did not look far enough ahead This
opposition i, I think, dying away, and
our people are understanding that it
would be utterly wrong to allow a
few individuals to exhaust for their
own temporary personal profit the re-
sources which ought to be developed
through use so as to be conserved for
the permanent common advantage Of
the people as q whole.
PE-lLJC LANDS.
The effort Of the government to
deal with the public land has been
based upon the same principle as that
of the reclamation service. The land
law system which was designed to
meet the needs of the fertile and we'll
watered regions of the Middle West
has largely broken down when ap-
piled to the dryer regions Of the Great
Plains, the mountains, and much Of
the Pacific slope, where a farm of 100
acres is inadequate for se1f-support
In these regions the system lent itself
to fraud. and much land passed out
of the hands Of the government with
out passing into the hands of the
hOme-maker, The department of the
interior and the department of JUS
tice Joined in the prosecuting the Of
tenders against the law; and they
have accomplished much, while where
the administration Of the law has
been defective it has been changed.
But the laws themselves are detective
Three years ago a public lands COM
mission was appointed to scrutinize
the law, and defects, and recommend
a remedy. Their examination specifi-
caIly showed the existence of great
fraud upon the public domain, and
their recommendations for changes in
the law were made with the design of
conserving the natural resources of
every part of the public lands by put
ting it to its best use. Especial at
tentiOn was called to the prevention
of settlement by the passage of great
areas of public land into the hands
of few men, and to the enormous
waste caused by unrestricted grazing
upon the open range. The recon-
mendations of the Public Lands Com
mission are sound, for they are es-
pecially in the interest Of the actual
hOme-maker; and where the small
hOme-maker cannot at present utilize
the land they provide that the govern
ment shall keep control of it so that
it may not be mOnopoliZed by a few
men. The congress has not yet acted
upon these recommendations; but
they are SO just and proper, SO essen
tia1 to our national welfare, that I
feel confident, if the congress will
take time to consider them, that they
will ultimately be adopted
Some such legislation as that pro-
g essential
serve the great stretches of public
grazing land which are unfit for cul-
tivation under present methods and
are valuable only for the forage which
they supply. These stretches amount
in all to some 3OO,O00,O0O acres, and
are open to the free grazing Of cattle,
sheep, horses and goats without re-
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