Arizona republican., 1910-08-30


 and it must leave every acre that can be settled by bona-fide homesteaders freely open to such settlement.
 I do not believe that a single acre of our public lands should hereafter pass into private ownership except for the single purpose of homestead settlement, and I know that the stockmen stand with me in their de- l sire to remove every obstacle from the path of the genuine homesteader. and to put every possible obstacle in the pathway of the man who tries to get public lands by misrepresentation or fraud This is absolutely neces- | sary on the agricultural lands. It is | at least equally necessary on the min eral lands. It would be a calamity whose baleful effect on the average citizen can scarcely be exaggerated 1 if the great stores of coal and other mineral fuels still owned by the peo- pie in Alaska and elsewhere should pass. into the unregulated ownership of monopolistic corporations.
 THE FOREST SERVICE.
 You progressive stockmen have stood heartily by the conservation movement, and with you have stood many others throughout the west, to whom large credit is due. such as the lumbermen in Washington and Ore gon, the irrigators in California, and the supporters of the country life movement in and around Spokane. l want to make my acknowledgements in particular to the Colorado Forestry Association. which has supported the e.. -l- ,sf ant .a-ftl, such unselfish zeal. The forest ser vice has enemies because it is effec- tive Some of its best work has been met by the bitterest opposition. For example. it has done a real service by blocking the road against the grabbers of water power. and again by standing like a rock against the demands of bogus mining concerns to exploit the national forests. l have always done my best to help the genuine miner. 1 believe that one of the first duties of the government is to encourage honest mining on public lands. But it is equally impOr- | tant to enforce the law firmly against l that particularly dangerous class which makes its living off of the public through fraudulent mining schemes.
 Much of the opposition to the forest service like much of the opposition to conservation. takes the form of di- rect misrepresentation. For example, the cry is often heard that the ma tional forests inclose great areas of agricultural lands which are thus put beyond the reach of settlement. This Statement seems plausible only till the facts are known. In the first place, congress has specially provided that whatever agricultural land there may be in any national forest shall be open, under proper safeguards, to homestead settlement And in the second place, when the opponents of conservation are asked to point out the great stretches of enclosed agri- cultural land on the ground and in the presence of experts, instead of in speeches in hall, they fail.
 THE RECLAMATION SERVICE.
 "The National Irrigation Congress is to hold a session in the city of Pueblo late in September. I am keenly sorry that I could not have accepted the invitation to be present. I must, however, be in the east at that time. But since I cannot be present then to express my keen, long held and deepfelt interest in the re- clamation of arid lands by the federal government, I desire to do so now. There is no more effective instrument for the making of homes than the United States reclamation service, and no government bureau, while l was president. had reached a higher frfo pH devotion to the public welfare. Like the forest service, the reclama- ton service has classed with certain private interests, and has had to pay the penalty of it's service to the public in the form of bitter opposition from those with whose profit it has inter fered The cry has been raised against it that the government must not do for it's citizens at a less cost what priv ate interests are ready to make them pay for at higher prices. Now, l be- lieve fully in the private development of irrigation projects which the gov ernment cannot undertake. There is large and legitimate field for such work But the essential thing is to make homes on the lands, not to en- able individuals to profit from the ne cessities of the men who make those homes. There is no more warrant for objecting to the reclamation of arid lands by the government than there would be to protest against the gov | ernmept for patenting agricultural lands to the actual settler. instead of through middleman, who could make a profit from the transaction. The men who assert their right to get something for themselves at the cost of the community instead of by ser vice to the community we have always had with us. and doubtless we always shall But there is no reason why we should yield to them. The reclamation service has not done so, and that is the chief reason for the attacks upon it. I don't think that there is one among you who is q better and more thor ough- going westerner than I am. There has been no support given to the con- servation policies so welcome as that which came from the west, and none in the west more welcome than that which came from Colorado. There are men and organizations in Colorado. and I mention Delta in particular, whose support of the conservation policies has been of the greatest value to the nation. It has not always been an easy