'LEE IRRIGA1TON AGE. 



a recent interview in which he says: 

 "I cannot express too strongly my ap- 

 preciation of the recommendation of the 

 President looking to the reclamation of the 

 now arid regions in our western states and 

 territories by the construction of great res- 

 ervoirs for the storage of water. The fact 

 that the President favors the undertaking 

 of this work by the general government is 

 the logical result of his familiarity with 

 conditions in the West, and his practical 

 knowledge of the subject under consider- 

 ation. 



"The work of reclamation of arid lands 

 undertaken in the comprehensive and 

 thorough manner which its importance not 

 -only justifies but demands, will require a 

 larger expenditure of money than the 

 sparsely settled states of the West can 

 command. Money for this purpose ex- 

 pended by the state must be raised by tax- 

 ation; this is an obvious impossibility; 

 therefore, the only alternative left to the 

 state or territory unaided by the general 

 government would be to farm out to great 

 syndicates composed of eastern capitalists 

 the right to construct the reservoirs, to 

 own the water and to control the lands re- 

 claimed. Under this plan the settler seek- 

 ing a home upon government land must 

 pay tribute to the syndicate thus formed 

 in such amount as the syndicate might 

 elect to exact. 



"The hope of this country, the sheet- 

 anchor of its safety, in the days to come 

 lies in the rural districts; the one over- 

 shadowing cloud more portentous than any 

 other to-day is the rapidly growing politi- 

 cal representation and influence of the 

 great centers of population as against the 

 country. The hope of the country is in 

 the forty, eighty and 160 acre farms 

 thousands of them owned and tilled by 

 happy, prosperous American citizens, and 

 in no way can this condition be brought 

 about so speedily as by the government 

 undertaking at once the work of reclaiming 

 and making fruitful and fertile the millions 



of acres of land now its property, but abso- 

 lutely worthless without water. 



"No recommendation or suggestion has 

 ever been made by a President more im- 

 portant than this or worthy of more care- 

 ful consideration, and I hope to see an ap- 

 propriation for the reclamation of the arid 

 lands of the nation made as regularly as 

 that for rivers and harbors, or for any 

 other great and necessary work of the na- 

 tional government, and that the appropria- 

 tion will be commensurate in amount with 

 the great importance of the work." 

 The Pres dent's If our national strength and 

 Message. prosperity are chiefly 



founded on agriculture and kindred pur- 

 suits, no single feature of the president's 

 message so vitally concerns the future 

 welfare of our country or so persistently 

 appeals to the crowded population of the 

 great commercial centers as his earnest 

 practieal plea for preservation of the for- 

 ests and the establishment of a scientific, 

 adequate system of irrigation, national in 

 extent and benefit, and fully fitted to the 

 ultimate requirements of our vast desert 

 domain. 



This encouraging recognition of a great 

 public necessity draws strong significance 

 from his active, early experience in west- 

 ern ranch life, for, of all our presidents, 

 Theodore Roosevelt most happily posseses 

 the intimate knowledge of western affairs 

 and that generous infusion of western 

 spirit which should characterize the broad- 

 minded representative statesmau. 



The narrow sectional view is impossible 

 to an intelligence quickened by impartial 

 sympathy with every phase of national 

 opportunity or progress. 



The eastern states can never be wholly 

 independent of the west while they con- 

 sume bread and meat, and while as a grow- 

 ing nation we hope and strive for the 

 grandeur of our appointed destiny. 



The voice of promise in the president's 

 message must be hailed with delight by 

 every citizen of our broad land bavin 



