THEODORE ROOSEVELT 



755 



Government from the sales thereof, and 

 has prevented monopoly of the coal 

 fields. 



Another very interesting item con- 

 nected with these economic investiga- 

 tions is the act providing for fuel and 

 structural material tests passed four 

 years ago. For example, the Survey 

 has demonstrated the important fact 

 that the low-grade bituminous coals 

 and lignites, of which there are tens of 

 millions of acres, formerly considered 

 of but little, if any, economic value, 

 can be converted into gas and used as 

 gas fuel, with double the efficiency pos- 

 sible under the steam boiler. The item 

 that ten millions of acres of coal have 

 been doubled in value and made a na- 

 tional asset by one little scientific ex- 

 periment successfully concluded by a 

 Government bureau could be duplicated 

 in many other illustrations. 



Under the new arrangements the 

 mineral and agricultural and timber re- 

 sources are available to the settler 

 with strict provisions against waste. 

 Throughout these large areas of the 

 public domain, the Government has 

 made large expenditures for roads, 

 trails, bridges, houses, telephone lines, 

 fire-fighting accessories, and other needs 

 and conveniences. 



The principle involved in the Roose- 

 velt Conservation Policy, while car- 

 ried out on strictly historical lines, and 

 strictly constitutional principles, is. in 

 its practical and in its political effect, 

 almost revolutionary. While the Gov- 

 ernment is owner of these hundreds of 

 millions of acres, it is not as the ordi- 

 nary landowner. If owned by private 

 interests the resources would be wasted 

 in the interest of the immediate profit. 

 At least, such is the verdict of experi- 

 ence. And it is because of such a ver- 

 dict that a hundred and sixty-eight mil- 

 lion acres have been withdrawn from 

 private ownership to start a real public 

 domain and for the common good. A 

 fair beginning! These resources are to 

 be developed, not in the interest of the 

 Government as landlord, but in the in- 

 terest of the present population and 

 their posterity forever, with the Gov- 

 ernment as trustee. 



Mr. Roosevelt has constantly insisted 

 upon the most exhaustive and scientific 

 investigation of all the water resources 

 of the country. During the past year 

 over 500 stations have been main- 

 tained to determine the average flow 

 of the rivers toward their utiliza- 

 tion in irrigation, drainage, and power, 

 and for the development of inland 

 navigation. 



The integrity of the great irrigation 

 works, built and being built by the 

 United States Government, depends on 

 the scientific accuracy and thoroughness 

 with which the hydrographic surveys 

 have been made. 



The division of Hydrology or Hydro- 

 geology of the United States Geological 

 Survey, which was organized on Janu- 

 ary i, 1903, deals with underground 

 waters, on the same principles as the 

 division of Hydrography deals with 

 surface waters, and strictly scientific 

 investigations were begun at once in 

 about two-thirds of the states or terri- 

 tories. The work is divided into six 

 departments the bibliographical, sta- 

 tistical, technical, legal, scientific, and 

 economic. The scientific work seeks 

 to solve such problems as the measure- 

 ment of direction and rate of under- 

 flow by electrical apparatus ; to make 

 experimental field investigations of the 

 general movement of ground water ; to 

 study the general movement of spring 

 water; the relation of topogiaphy to 

 underground drainage in regions of 

 soluble rocks. The "economic" deals 

 principally with reports and maps on 

 the location and extent of water- 

 bearing horizons, the depth of water 

 below the surface, and the height to 

 which it will rise, the quality and quan- 

 tity of the supplies, and problems re- 

 lating to purity or pollution of the 

 ground waters. 



In close connection with this work, 

 also, are the features of rainfall, texture 

 of water-bearing materials, and of adja- 

 cent land surfaces. 



The economic results to be obtained 

 from such studies depend also on the 

 general topography, the main direction 

 and velocity of ground waters, etc., in 



