The Elbert County tribune., 1913-01-17

Denver.-Governor e. NJ. Ammons
delivered his inaugural address to the
Nineteenth General Assembly of Colo
rado on Tuesday, the 14th. In part,
the governor said
To the Members of the Nineteenth
General Assembly of the State of
Colorado:
Greeting; You are here as the rep
resentatiyes of the people of the state.
not to make partisan politics, but to
enact laws for the benefit of all the
citizens of Our commonwealth. You
must bear in mind that this is a state
of great variety of industrial and bus
mess conditions; that there will be
seeming conflict of interests to ad-
just. The field of legislation must be
entered with wisdom and tolerance.
believe every member is inspired by
the best motives, and / expect to see
splendid results.
Roads and Parks.
Perhaps the most urgent necessity
upon us at the present time for the
advancement of farming, mining ana
all kinds of industrial pursuits is the
of highways throughout the state. We
have many sections OF good road, but
in very few places are they properly
connected. In order to carry out a
harmonious plan we must first build
the main arteries reaching all sections
of the state and make connections
with every locality easy. To bring
about such result the work must be
under the supervision OF some eff
would not only enable us to reach
settle up and develop every portion
of our state. but it would also furnish
the best possible means to secure the
tourist travel now looking for an op-
portunity to visit the Rocky noun
tains. Even with our present discon-
nected system of highways, automo-
bile tourists are visiting most portions
of the state and advertising to the
world our wonderful variety of scenic
beauty. We are especially favored with
natural attractions and all we need to
secure the lions share of this travel is
the construction of good roads. In
1915 the transcontinental highways
VIII be lined with automobiles, headed
toward the Panama expositions on the
Pacific coast, and unless we complete
the main arteries of our system by
that time we can hope for but little
of this trade. If we have our highways
in good condition, we may reasonably
hope for most of it, because in no
other place within the same amount
of territory can SO many scenic at
fractions be found.
Transportation and Marketing Condi-
tions.
Inquiry has shown that we are an
nually importing into this state for
our own use livestock and agricultural
products to the amount of $40 per cap
ita. or about $32.000,O0O year. This
is counting only those products we
should produce ourselves. Neverthe
less, this year we had an immense
quantity of fruit and other farm crops
for which there was no available mar
ket or no transportation facilities
through which they could be sold at
profit Thousands of tons of the
best fruit ever produced in the state
went to waste Much of this was per-
1shable and If moved at all had to be
shipped within very limited time
Had there been ample manufacturing
facilities much OF this crop could have
been put in condition to hold over fol
use in years of scant production
State Forestry System.
The Eighteenth General Assembly
authorized the appointment of a state
forester under the Board of Agricul-
ture and enacted Legislation to put
into effect most salutary laws In be-
half OF forestry In this state. The ap-
preparation did not become .ayaiia Sae
until year later and theRd'ht,o ho,a d pa,' :
~ @,set YRS Organization of the serv.
zee; Inc Agricultural College has es-
tablished a course of study In forestry.
Its purpose is to teach the growing of
trees. to make experiments looking to
the discovery of more valuable woods
tnan are now grown In this state. and
IL mas secured the permission of Con
gress TO purchase 1,6D0 acres of ex-
perimental plots In the several ahi-
tudes at which timber will grow in
this state
The General Assembly should make
the appropriation OF $1,000 necessary
TO secure this valuable land. | mad
hoped, inasmuch as we were educating
the youth OF the state to handle the
forestry problem OF both state and
federal lands. that the government
would give to us from its more than
100000 acres of forest reserves in
ColGado the small amount of 600
acres. We failed, however. to secure
the consent of the forest service and
Congress required us to pay for it.
Irrigation.
The development of our irrigation
system is the most important factor
in our agricultural growth. Expert
ence has taught US that by storing
and holding within the state a large
portion of the natural water supply |
that comes to US in the way of snow
and rainfall, We will. during the course |
of time, add almost indefinitely to the |
amount of land we may irrigate.