THE IRRIGATION AGE. 365 



extraordinary results in the enlistment of the strongest minds and 

 most powerful organizations in behalf of national irrigation. 



The National Irrigation Act is the outgrowth of a wide- spread 

 public sentiment which was created by these agencies and by the 

 very considerable body of literature which they called into being. 

 But there could have been no substantial success at this early day 

 had we not been extremely fortunate in the character of our public 

 men at Washington. First a ad foremost, our grateful acknowledge- 

 ments are due to Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States. 

 His message to Congress, in December, 1901, marked the beginning 

 of a new epoch in the history of Western America. It placed the 

 cause of national irrigation in a position where it could no longer be 

 denied. Without the powerful aid of the administration we could, not 

 possibly have succeeded in inaugurating the new policy at so early a 

 day. With all due regard to his other achievements, and to the im- 

 portance of other objects both of domestic and of foreign concern, I 

 do not hesitate to say that in my opinion, when the history of Presi- 

 dent Roosevelt's first administration shall be written, the passage of 

 the National Irrigation Act will be found to be the peculiar glory of 

 his statesmanship, and our thanks are due to the Honorable E. A. 

 Hitchcock, Secretary of the Interior and to the Honorable James 

 Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture. Nor should we forget our faithful 

 friends in both Houses of Congress. They were found in both parties 

 and were by no means all from our- section of the country. While our 

 measure by no means escaped criticism, it is a pleasure to be able to 

 record the fact that when they came to a vote the instinct of provin- 

 cialism was completely overwhelmed by the broad spirit of nation- 

 ality. Our thanks are also due to the great commercial interests of 

 the United States which took the broadest possible view of the pro- 

 position and lent their potent influence to our cause. 



The inauguration of the National Irrigation policy means a great 

 deal to all our Western States. It will add immensely to their wealth 

 and population and greatly broaden the basis of their prosperity. It 

 means even more to the nation as a whole. It opens the way to a 

 new era of internal development and domestic expansion as great as 

 any similar period of the past. It is equivalent to the addition of a 

 new empire as important as that drained by the Mississippi River and 

 its tributaries. But these are not the considerations which are up- 

 permost in my mind as I contemplate the results to flow from this 

 new policy. It is what may be called the humanitarian aspect of na- 

 tional irrigation which quickens my pulse and makes me desire to 

 dedicate myself anew to the work in which we are engaged. 



The inauguration of national irrigation means that every family 

 in the United States who wants a home upon the soil may have one. 



