To the People of the United States. 



^^HE Thi 

 3-10, 1 



-A- One 



r~ r HE Third National Irrigation Congress, assembled at Denver, Colorado, September 

 3-10, 1894, sends greeting to the people of the United States. 



One year ago at the session of this Congress held in Los Angeles, California, 

 we provided for the creation of unofficial irrigation commissions in seventeen 

 States and Territories, charged with the duty of investigating the physical conditions of 

 the arid region and formulating the views of their constituents as to needed legislation, 

 National and State. By this means we hoped to harmonize conflicting opinions and find 

 the basis for a just compromise between extreme views of public policy. With the 

 reports of those commissions as the material for study and debate, we hope to be able 

 to suggest at this time a national policy, broad, just, comprehensive, statesmanlike. We 

 are dealing with problems that involve the happiness and prosperity of millions of free- 

 men, the tranquillity of States, the evolution of new conditions of society and of higher 

 forms of civilization. As the result of the faithful work of the unpaid but patriotic men 

 composing our several commissions, we have arrived at conclusions upon which we 

 believe all Western men can unite with reasonable unanimity, and which it is our purpose 

 to present to our countrymen, from the platform, through the press and at the fireside 

 until their triumph is complete. 



These conclusions are given to the press simultaneously with this address, and will be 

 framed for presentation to the Congress of the United States at the proper time. 



The fundamental idea of our policy is not the separation of State and national 

 interests, but cooperation between these powers within their proper spheres. The great 

 end in view is to reclaim lands now useless and make them fit to sustain a vast population 

 under conditions which shall guarantee industrial independence and human equality. 

 We recognize these public lands as the heritage of the American people, not as the spoil 

 of private greed. We aim to deliver to the people this precious birthright under condi- 

 tions which will burden them only with the actual cost of reclamation and the return of the 

 capital actually employed in the work, principal and interest. We recognize no private 

 monopoly in the water which is the life current of the field and hence of the man who lives 

 thereon. We seek to inaugurate a policy which will settle interstate water contentions in a 

 spirit of justice and equity. We aim to preserve and protect the forests and so to control 

 the pastoral lands that the barbarism of frontier warfare shall be forever eliminated and 

 this portion of the public domain made useful to the largest number of people, under con- 

 ditions which guarantee security. Upon these lines we hope to inaugurate a new era of 

 industrial development, finding employment for labor and capital and security and satis- 

 faction for both. 



But while we are about to urge the necessity of important and far-reaching legislation, 

 we do not forget to thank the Congress and the people of the United States for what they 

 have already, done for Western States and Territories. We remember with gratitude the 

 wise and patriotic action of President 'Harrison in establishing large forest reservations 

 and urge the continuance of this policy by President Cleveland. We heartily endorse the 

 plan of Prof. Sargent of Harvard University, providing for the education at West Point 

 of skilled foresters, for a local forest guard and for the use of detachments of United 

 States troops in guarding forest areas. It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of 

 \ forest preservation to the economic life of Western America, because of its intimate rela- 

 tion to water supply for irrigation. 



^J 



