Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1911-03-19

| is a pretty fair chance OF getting
mind one of the things Of most i'm
portance To the United States which
l saw before me at that time was
this great national policy of irriga-
| ton and ! put my whole weight be-
hind the bill, that is. TO the admirable
work done by the organization of
which Mr. Fowler is now head. and
I cannot now overstate my apprecia-
ton of that work.
THE CONQUEST OF THE EAST
Thanks To that admirable work.
western senators and representatives
in congress were already fully awake
to the needs of the adoption of ma
tional policy for the development of
the arid and semi-arid west through
irrigation. The difficulty, OF course,
lay in the east Perfectly naturally
it was the same difficulty that was
encountered by those who pressed
forward the homestead law. The
east of the those days did not under
stand the need of having a home
stead for the well watered west, for
the long grass west. and in 1902 We
found both the old east and what you
might call the homestead law west
ignorant of the needs of a totally
different kind of work for the devel
opment of the arid and semi-arid
west, which could not be properly
developed except on a different line.
/ feel most strongly that the reclama-
ton act. comes second only To the
homestead law itself.
There is another thing. mind you.
and that is that the reclamation act.
like the homestead law. was a law
for the small man-this is a law for
the twenty-acre farmer, that it is a
law for the man who farms his own
land. and / say that one of the main
reasons why l desired to put it
through. as part of the national policy
was because the only alternative, if
these water projects were to be de-
veloped at all. was to have them
developed in the shape of private
monopolies.
THANKS FOR THE NAME
l wish TO congratulate all who have
taken part i'm this extraordinary work
here, and. gentlemen. first of all
want to thank you for having named
the dam after me. l do not know if
it is of any consequence to a man
whether he has a monument: l know
il is of mighty little consequence
whether he has statue after he is
dead If there could be any monu-
ment which would appeal to any man.
surely it is this. You could not have
done anything which would have
pleased and touched me more than To
name this great dam. this great reser-
voir site. after me, and | thank you
from my heart for having done so.
THE CANAL AND THE DAM
The two material achievements con-
which | am very proud are, this
reclamation work in the west and
the Panama Canal. This reclamation
act we got through congress; the
Panama Canal we got with congress
tagging a little bit behind. Things
happened to come SO in connection
with Panama, that | had two alterna-
tives before me. One was to write a
report with recommendations, and put
it before congress so that they might
debate it. in which case they would
be debating il still and the Panama
Canal would have been forty or fifty
years in the future; the other was to
take possession OF Panama start the
canal, and then force congress to
debate me instead of the canal which
is carried on with great spirit in GER
tain newspapers TO the present day,
and as long as it pleases them / GER
tainly have no objection whatever
Meanwhile. the canal is going on.
Now | want to say word of APP
probation, Mr.. Hill. to you and your
subordinates, of the work you have
done here, and 1 want to include in
that. Mr.. O'Rourke and the contract
ors
THINGS NOT TO BE PROUD OF
There are plenty of things occur
ring i'm America of which we have no
reason to feel proud, and a consider
able part of what l have had to do
in public life has been in taking
action against crooks of various
sizes and characters. II has been
no satisfaction to me to have to do
it. l feel ashamed as an American
whenever / find a high official or
big business man who does not act
as a loyal American, patriotic and
true to the principles of his coun-