290 



THE FORESTER. 



December, 



the extension of the forest reserve system, 

 and hence of government control of the 

 forests. 



Fourth. National protection and use of 

 the forests under expert supervision. 



Fifth. I urge you to see to it that private 

 owners of forests in the West and East 

 alike understand that timber can be cut 

 without forest destruction (the Department 

 of Agriculture will tell them how) and 

 that the ownership of water rights in the 

 arid country, and of forest lands anywhere, 

 entails public as well as private duties and 

 responsibilities. 



The East is interested in the commercial 

 development of the arid lands of the West, 

 just as the West is interested in the proper 

 development of our harbor system and of 

 our commerce on the high seas. No part 

 of this country can be permanently bene- 

 fited without a reflex benefit to the other 

 parts. As Americans we are all interested 

 in the progress of any part of our common 

 country, and while your movement is of 

 immediate benefit to the West, its ultimate 

 benefit will be shared by the East as well. 

 I earnestly hope that all far-sighted citi- 

 zens, whether they dwell on the Atlantic 

 or on the Pacific seaboard, or in the great 

 Mississippi valley, will appreciate this, and 

 that Congress will give to your efforts the 

 substantial backing that they deserve. 

 Sincerely yours, 



(Signed.) THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 



THE LETTER FROM SECRETARY WILSON. 



NOVEMBER 20, 1900. 



To THE NATIONAL IRRIGATION CON- 

 GRESS, Chicago. 

 Gentlemen : 



The pressure of official duties stands in 

 the way of my presence at your Congress, 

 and I am exceedingly sorry it is so. It 

 would have given me very great pleasure 

 to meet you, and to discuss with you the 

 two great agricultural problems of the 

 West wood and water. But the necessity 

 of setting rightly before the President and 

 the people the work of the scientists of the 

 Department of Agriculture in my annual 

 report keeps me in Washington, where I 

 hope I shall not be less useful to your cause 



than I should be if I came to Chicago. As 

 it is, the Department will be represented 

 by several of its scientists, and to what 

 they will have to say I invite your special 

 attention. Through its search for economic 

 plants that will thrive with little water, 

 through its studies in the use of water for 

 plants that need more, through its soil in- 

 vestigations, its forest work, and in many 

 other ways, the Department of Agriculture 

 is working at the problems which you are 

 met to consider. These problems are 

 national in their scope, and it is most fit- 

 ting that they should be studied by the 

 agencies of the National Government. 



The water problem, like the forest 

 problem, is essentially and primarily one 

 of conservation and use. The waste of 

 water in floods and the waste of forests by 

 fire are parallel losses, each utterly hostile 

 to the best interests both of the farmer and 

 of the nation at large, and each prevent- 

 able by perfectly well-known means. 

 Enlightened public opinion and the use of 

 expert skill are the two forces which are 

 indispensable if we are to "save the 

 forests and store the floods," in accordance 

 with the admirable motto of your Con- 

 gress. The creation of public sentiment 

 will be immensely forwarded by your 

 meetings, and you may safely look to the 

 National Government for some part at 

 least of the trained skill to study the 

 water problems which confront the ir- 

 rigator, and to make the forests of the 

 Great West, and of the East as well, yield 

 their products year after year and decade 

 after decade in unbroken abundance. The 

 vast developments which you are planning 

 can become permanent only by the junc- 

 tion of wise conservatism with energy ; 

 and the natural resources which have cost 

 you nothing must be protected and hus- 

 banded with the same trained care which 

 you are making ready to bestow upon vast 

 systems of artifical works for irrigation. 

 The chief dangers which threaten your 

 plans one the failure to secure the build- 

 ing of these great works, the other the 

 failure to protect the forests from which 

 your waters come are best met, like most 

 of the dangers which threaten our country, 

 by the broad diffusion of wise principles 



