5o6 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION. 



December, 



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 uppermost in my mind as I 

 contemplate the results to flow from this 

 new policy. It is what may be called 

 the humanitarian aspect of national irri- 

 gation which quickens my pulse and 

 makes me desire to dedicate myself anew 

 to the work in which we are engaged. 



The inauguration of national irriga- 

 tion means that every family in the 

 United States who wants a home upon 

 the soil may have one. It means that 

 the door is open to permit the man who 

 is not needed where he is to go to the 

 place where he is needed. It means 

 the restoration of those automatic social 

 conditions which in past generations 

 relieved the pressure of population 

 upon the old centers, and constantl}' 

 extended the frontiers of civilization 

 toward the north, south, and the west. 

 When we read the historj' of the people 

 of the United States in McMaster's 

 pages, for instance, we are surprised to 

 find at how early a date there was se- 

 rious unrest because of the crowding of 

 population and consequent depression of 

 industry. Immediately after the close 

 of the Revolution there was marked evi- 

 dence of land hvmger, and a fierce de- 

 mand for more territorj^ with which to 

 feed the appetite for homes. It was 

 then that the Ohio Valle}^ received its 

 first influx of settlers from the eastern 

 states. So it was again after the close 

 of the civil war, when the prairie states 

 to the west of the Mississippi sprang 

 into sudden existence, and when the 

 tide of immigration flowed out upon the 

 plains until it came within sight of the 

 Rock}^ Mountains. We stand upon the 

 threshold of another great colonization 

 movement made possible by the glorious 

 fact of national irrigation. 



It is not, however, to broad move- 

 ments of population that I especially 

 desire to direct your attention. I am 

 thinking rather of the family unit of 

 the father and mother and little chil- 

 dren now confined within the narrow 

 limitations of city life. I am thinking 

 of how their horizon is to be broadened, 

 and how their daily lives are to be en- 



riched, b)^ the transition from paved 

 streets and crowded tenements out un- 

 der the blue sky and into the sweet, 

 pure air. It is not the dream of empire, 

 which ma}^ come to a great nation with 

 the conquest of a territory wherein a 

 hundred million will some time dwell, 

 which appeals to my imaginatoin ; but 

 it is the dream of home and independence 

 which will come to many a struggling 

 famil}^ with the announcement that one 

 more fair valley of arid America has 

 been thrown open to settlement at the 

 actual cost of reclamation. I picture to 

 my mind the ambitious young man and 

 woman just starting life and disheart- 

 ened at the conditions offered them by 

 the harsh competition of the town. I 

 see the couple of middle age, with their 

 children about them, wondering how 

 they are to make provision for old age. 

 I see the men of talent and ambition, 

 some of them broadh' trained in the 

 trades and professions, who are 5'et un- 

 able to prosper in the midst of our 

 changing economic conditions. These 

 and many other classes I see living in 

 hired houses and working at small wages 

 for others more favored in ability or for- 

 tune. I know the pressure of povert}' 

 upon them, and the haunting fear of 

 future want. Such people, and man}' of 

 our best stock and breeding, are found 

 all over the land, but especially in great 

 cities, where the very forces which have 

 created our present prosperity as a na- 

 tion have also operated to make a certain 

 fringe of half emploj^ed and semi-pros- 

 perous. And then I see national irriga- 

 tion, like a good fairy, wave its magic 

 wand , and lo ! a new star of hope arises 

 in the sky of our common humanity ; 

 a new vista opens before thousands 

 of families ; opportunity conies with 

 beckoning finger. It points the way to 

 a new Land of Promise. Hope chases 

 anxiety from a thousand faces, and a 

 new enthusiasm for home and independ- 

 ence drives apprehension from a thou- 

 sand hearts. 



This is to me the inspiring and up- 

 lifting aspect of national irrigation. 

 True, we are to have millions of people 

 living where few lived. We are to see 

 a vast increase in national wealth. But 

 all this is merely incidental to the hu- 



