Arizona republican., 1911-11-15

lidl II nc Coulu ne consulted as 10
/ a Lincoln memorial, he would chose
something unitarian in character.
The federal government has enter
| ed upon an extensive system of ir-
rigation Of arid lands in order To fur
nish homes for our children. The
! initial cost to the government is
great, but the theory is that the
government will be repaid in full. and
50 the law provides The irrigation
system is causing the desert to
literally blossom as the rose. Closely
connected, in the public mind at least,
with the irrigation of our arid lands
! is the drainage and reclamation of
our vast areas of swamp and over
/ beneath the skies. on the banks Of
| the Mississippi and its tributaries
alone there is enough swamp and
overflowed land of the maximum
producing quality to make n state as
big as Missouri, capable of supporting
! a population of ten or fifteen mil
lions, right in the heart of the con-
! tinent, close to market, i'm the midst
I Of schools, churches, newspapers rail
roads and other necessary adjuncts of
modern civilization. That these lands
VIII some day be reclaimed | have
no doubt. In most cases an adequate
scheme would prove too large for pri-
waite enterprise; but again the ques
| ton: Who shall do it, the federal
or state government? Two things
appear clear: First. if the congress
possessed constitutional authority To
/ put water on arid lands to mako
homes for the people, it has equal
authority to take the water off of
swamp and overfiowed lands for the
same laudable purpose. Second, if
the congress has sense enough to rig
up an irrigation scheme 50 as to ulti-
mately get back the money advanced
/ il can rig up a scheme to recoup it
self i'm draining and retaining
/ swamp and overflowed lands. 1t
goes without saying that any scheme
for this purpose should not be en-
tered upon until thoroughly consid
cred and wrought out and until pub
| lie opinion is in favor of the large
initial expenditure; but somebody
sometime will have wisdom enough
to devise some feasible plan for this
vast and bcneficient undertaking
/ There are no thrifticr or more eco
nomical people on earth than the
( Hollanders. nevertheless. the govern
ment of Holland has recently eX-
pended ninety millions of dol
lars i'm retaining the bed of the
Zuqder Zee by building a great
granite wall. and they seem to be
well satisfied with this cpochal
achievement.
The difficulties of our dual sys-
tenn of government do not apply to
the improvement of our rivers. The
ancient dispute among constitutional
lawyers as To the authority OF CON
gress on that subject long ago fell
into "innocuous deSuetude' and the
power of the federal government I'm
that regard is freely admitted on
every hand The only question there
fore pertaining 20 the subject is the
feasibility of river Improvement. It
is astounding that the American peo-
pie who are constructing the Panama
canal at a cost approXimating half
billion of dollars, should have even
the shadow of a doubt as to the
wisdom and desirability of improv-
ing our rivers. They are intended
for the same purpose-the promotion
Of commerce. and i'm my Judgment
the improvement of our rivers is
more important to our people than
is the Panama canal, important as
that IS. because our foreign COM
merce bears only a small proportion
to our domestic commerce. which
grows Vastcr every day
God. in his infinite wisdom. never
vouchsafed to any other country such
magnificent systems Of waterways as
we possess, and no other nation ever
so unwisely neglected its waterways.
How they happened to permit them
to fan into disuse will forever re-
main a puzzle to the inquirinG mind.
Had any other nation owned the Mis-
sissip7i and the Missouri. the Mis-
sissippi would long since have been
made navigable in fact as we'll as
in theory to the Falls of st. Anthony,
and the Missouri to Fort Benton. The
money squandered on the Philip
pines t. say nothing of other Wild
cat cxtrayagances, would have by
this time accomplished all the i'm
provcmcnts demanded by even the
most enthusiastic advocates of water
transportation and left a huge sur
plus to devote to other desirable and
useful objects.
To my certain knowledge the
Trans Mississippi Commercial Con-
gress and the Deep Waterways Asso-
Citations have been talking river I'M
provements for twenty years. | was
vice president for Missouri of the
Trans Mississippi Commercial con-
gress at Denver i'm 1891. At that
time irrigation and river improve
merit were the resounding themes OF
every tongue. The great irrigation
scheme is being worked out rapidly
to fruition. but the river Improvement
scheme is still in the conversational
and OratOrical state. Notwithstanding
the fact that in 1891 there were a
thousand men interested in water
transportation where there was one
interested in irrigation. In fact, every
citizen Of the republic is interested
i'm water transportation. My own
district is chiefly in the point be-
twixt the Mississippi and the Mis-
souri and has in it the mouths of