1902. 



FORKSTRY AND IRRIGATION. 



17 



vent the June rise, and it is precisely 

 this waste flow which the reservoirs will 

 help to save. The forests ou.i^ht un- 

 questionably to be preserved, and the na- 

 tional government is the proper agency 

 to do it, but the principal arguments 

 therefore apph- with accentuated force 

 to the construction of reservoirs." 



The fact should never be lost sight of 

 that two-thirds of the whole western 

 half of the United States actually be- 

 long to the government that is, it 

 belongs to the whole people of the 

 country, and nine-tenths of them live 

 in its eastern half. Broadly speaking, 

 it may be said that the people of the 

 East own, and through their representa- 

 tion in Congress, they certainly control 

 two-thirds of the western half of the 

 countrv. 



This great iniblic domain is a precious 

 heritage not onl>- for the generation now 

 .seeking new fields of activity, but for 

 generations yet unborn. There is every 

 rea.son in good .sen.se and patriotism 

 that the East should .see to it that this 

 va.st area of public land shall be saved 

 for the army of home-builders who 

 want homes, and to this end that the 

 forests shall be preserved, the flood 

 waters stored, and the irrigable land 

 sacredh- held as a great trust for those 

 who will make homes on it. 



"Save the fore.sts and store the 

 floods ' ' should be the .slogan of the 

 movement for the conquest of half a 

 continent from the desert, by the con- 

 ser\^ationof its water supplies; but with 

 it must go the further motto, " Reserve 

 the pul)lic lands for home-builders." 



IRRIG.ATED KKUIT ORCH.\RD, VAKIM.\ V.\I,IvEV, W.-VSHINGTON. 



