EDITORIAL 



435 



Russia, is portentous. The attempt of 

 the Gracchi to place landless men upon 

 land largely unused brought civil strife. 

 Modern civilization to-day faces con- 

 gestion in great cities, and a problem 

 of unemployment imperatively demand- 

 ing solution. Upon the arid and semi- 

 arid lands of western America, not to 

 mention swamp lands easily susceptible 

 of reclamation^ are opportunities which 

 might readily provide for millions of 

 human beings, relieve economic press- 

 ure, and transmute discontent into sat- 

 isfaction and acute misery into happi- 

 ness. In this viewpoint, the reclama- 

 tion of our western wilderness consti- 

 tutes an appeal of the first order to the 

 citizenship and statesmanship of to-day. 



Mr. Arthur Hooker, secretary of the 

 board of control, will present a reso- 

 lution memorializing Congress to issue 

 three per cent gold bonds, running lOO 

 years, to the amount of $5,000,000,000. 

 or as much thereof as may be necessary, 

 for the following purposes : 



One billion dollars for drainage of 

 100,000 square miles of overflowed and 

 swamp lands. 



One billion dollars for the irrigation 

 of 40,000,000 acres of arid and semi- 

 arid lands. 



One billion dollars to construct and 

 improve deep waterways. 



One billion dollars for good roads 

 and national highways. 



One billion dollars for forest protec- 

 tion, reforestation, and conservation of 

 the forest resources. 



To provide the funds for the above- 

 named projects, or any of them, other 

 methods than those of bond issues 

 might be conceived ; furthermore, such 

 an enterprise, because of its very mag- 

 nitude, will impress some as chimerical. 

 Nevertheless, it will be recalled that 

 President-elect Taft, in his Belasco- 

 theater speech, conceded the possible 

 wisdom of bond issues for conservation 

 purposes ; furthermore, properly han- 

 dled, such an enterprise might repre- 

 sent to the Nation not a mountain of 

 debt, but a great and highly profitable 

 investment, not only yielding large pe- 

 cuniary returns, but, for years to come. 



promoting social and economic peace 

 and tranquillity. 



}&' «? ^ 

 President Hill on Conservation 



WISE words were those uttered by 

 Mr. James J. Hill at the opening 

 of the Alaska- Yukon-Pacific Exposi- 

 tion on June i. "The idea of a federa- 

 tion of the world," said he, "comes near 

 its realization in the great expositions 

 that assemble actual evidences of man's 

 progress in self-development and to- 

 ward his development of the earth. 

 This exposition may be regarded as the 

 laying of the last rail, the driving of the 

 last spike, in unity of mind and purpose 

 between the Pacific Coast and the coun- 

 try east of the mountains. It is the 

 witness of a constantly broadening tie 

 which is both the price we pay for 

 civilization and the boon that it confers 

 upon us. * * * As it was the com- 

 monwealths of the Middle West and 

 Northwest that, in their rise, swung 

 the Nation, like a ship swaying with 

 the tide, slowly but surely toward the 

 ideals of freedom and union that have 

 molded us to what we are, so it may 

 well be that the destiny of the United 

 States will be decided in some great 

 crisis hereafter by the men, the wealth, 

 the industry, the ideas to be born gen- 

 erations hence in the wide spaces, un- 

 der the clear skies, amid the bracing 

 airs of our giant child of the North that 

 occupies the place of honor here to- 

 day." 



Speaking of the influence of the 

 West, Mr.' Hill said: "No less weighty 

 should be its contribution to the forma- 

 tion of national ideals, the shaping of 

 national ambitions, the direction of na- 

 tional policies. Out of the West have 

 come formative impulses that enriched 

 the history of the country. It is the goal 

 of the enterprising and fearless. While 

 others deliberate, it acts. While they 

 count consequences, it looks upou re- 

 sults as already nearing accomplish- 

 ment. If the star of empire in history 

 has moved westward, it followed rather 

 than led those bold spirits by which em- 

 pires are made and upheld. Here, on 



