And State Papers 387 



of material from the lumber woods and the pro 

 duction of agricultural products on irrigated farms. 

 The great valleys which stretch through the State 

 between the Sierra Nevada and Coast Ranges 

 must owe their future development as they owe 

 their present prosperity to irrigation. Whatever 

 tends to destroy the water supply of the Sacramento, 

 the San Gabriel, and the other valleys strikes vitally 

 at the welfare of California. The welfare of Cali 

 fornia depends in no small measure upon the pres 

 ervation of water for the purposes of irrigation in 

 those beautiful and fertile valleys which can not 

 grow crops by rainfall alone. The forest cover upon 

 the drainage basins of streams used for irrigation 

 purposes is of prime importance to the interests of 

 the entire State. Now keep in mind that the whole 

 object of forest protection is, as I have said again and 

 again, the making and maintaining of prosperous 

 homes. I am not advocating forest protection from 

 the aesthetic standpoint only. I do advocate the 

 keeping of big trees, the great monarchs of the 

 woods, for the sake of their beauty, but I advocate 

 the preservation and wise use of the forests be 

 cause I feel it essential to the interests of the actual 

 settlers. I am asking that the forests be used wisely 

 for the sake of the successors of the pioneers, for 

 the .sake of the settlers who dwell on the land and 

 by doing so extend the borders of our civilization. 

 I ask it for the sake of the man who makes his 

 farm in the woods, or lower down along the sides of 

 the streams which have their rise in the mountains. 



