2o6 



THE FORESTER. 



August, 



tion of the country. Irrigation and fores- 

 try received considerable attention in the 

 sessions of the Congress, and the delegates 

 were found to be of one, and that an affirm- 

 ative, opinion on the question of "annex- 

 ing arid America." 



One of the most convincing addresses 

 delivered before the Congress was that on 

 the " Development of Water Resources," 

 by Mr. F. H. Newell, Hydrographer of 

 the U. S. Geological Survey. Mr. New- 

 ell, who for a number of years has been 

 making a thorough investigation of the 

 water supply of the country and especially 

 of the western section of the United States, 

 pointed out what had been done in the 

 way of irrigation through private enter- 

 prise, the possibilities of a permanent 

 water supply in the now arid regions, and 

 that the aid of the national government 

 was needed to bring about the proper ex- 

 ploitation of the now useless land. In ad- 

 dition to his own address Mr. Newell also 

 read a paper on forestry by Mr. Gifford 

 Pinchot, who had been announced as one 

 of the speakers, but who was, through ur- 

 gent business in Washington, prevented 

 from being present. 



An important resolution on the question 

 of aid by the national government in re- 

 claiming the arid lands of the West, was 

 prepared by Mr. George H. Maxwell, of 

 the National Irrigation Association, and 

 included in the report of the Committee of 

 Resolutions which was submitted to the 

 Congress and adopted. This resolution 

 along with several others will be laid be- 

 fore Congress in Washington at its next 

 session. The resolution reads as follows : 



"Whereas, The rural homes of the 

 country are the safeguards of the nation, 

 and the congestion of population in the 

 great cities of the East is a growing men- 

 ace to the stability of our republican insti- 

 tutions and there is no longer an outlet 

 upon the public lands in their present con- 

 dition for our surplus population, and 



"Whereas, The homestead was the 

 outgrowth of the genius of the American 

 people for home-building, and the mar- 

 velous development of population and 

 wealth in the great prairie states of the 

 West and the wonderful growth of Okla- 



homa stand as striking proof of the be- 

 neficent results of this act, and the rush for 

 homes on the Kiowa reservation has been 

 so great as to compel the government to 

 resort to a lottery drawing to apportion 

 the available lands among the thousands 

 who are seeking homes there, and 



"Whereas, Two-thirds of the whole 

 western half of the United States, a vast 

 area of over 620,000,000 acres is still pub- 

 lic land and belongs to the whole people 

 of the country, and 100,000,000 acres of 

 it can be reclaimed by irrigation, and the 

 water which would irrigate it runs an- 

 nually to waste, and 



" Whereas, If the national govern- 

 ment would build the great reservoirs and 

 main line canals necessarv to bring the 

 water within reach of settlers on public 

 lands, so that settlers could build their own 

 distributing systems, as the early settlers in 

 Utah, California, Montana, Arizona and 

 other sections of the West have done, 

 these public lands which are now arid and 

 uninhabitable would be I'eclaimed and set- 

 tled up by actual settlers and home-builders 

 just as fast as the great reservoirs and main 

 line canals could be built, and 



" Whereas, The settlement of these 

 arid lands would create new population in 

 the West and new home markets for our 

 American manufacturers and merchants 

 with marvelous rapidity and would stim- 

 ulate prosperity in every section of the 

 country and among all classes of Ameri- 

 can people, and 



" Whereas, The development of agri- 

 culture on the irrigable lands of the West 

 would greatly stimulate mining and the 

 construction of new transportation facil- 

 ities, and increase the home demand for 

 the products of the Western farmers in 

 the mining regions of the West, and 



"Whereas, The countless millions of 

 Asia would absorb all of the surplus of 

 the ordinary farm products of the irri- 

 gated lands of the West so that any com- 

 petition between the farmers of the West 

 and the farmers of the East would be ab- 

 solutelv impossible; now, therefore, be it 



''Resolved, That we urge upon the 

 American people and the congress of the 

 United States the overshadowing impor- 



