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American Forestry 



VOL XVIII JANUARY, 1912 No. 1 



THE NATIONAL ASPECT OF SWAMP DRAINAGE* 



BY M. O. LEIGHTON, 



CHIEF HYDROGRAPHER UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



GHAT which I have to suggest is based on two fundamental principles; 

 first, that natural laws are superior to man-made ones, and when the two 

 kinds are opposed, as they sometimes are, man is very foolish to handicap 

 himself by trying to sustain those of his own make; second that government 

 is merely a means to an end, that end being to enable the people to satisfy 

 their needs and desires in the wisest way. I hold that these two principles 

 do not admit of argument. 



Some parts of the earth are not, in their natural condition, well suited 

 to man's occupancy. Man has therefore seen fit to readjust the face of nature 

 to suit his particular needs. In the course of this readjustment he has 

 changed rural conditions into urban ones, has diverted the course of rivers 

 to make the arid places productive, has tunneled mountains, bridged chasms, 

 leveled hills, and even diked off the ocean itself. These and a thousand things 

 more has man performed because nature has not arranged and constructed 

 to his liking. But though nature has shown a cheerful disposition to submit 

 to such changes, she has always insisted that they be made in certain ways. 

 Whosoever violates her laws must finally fail of his purposes. Do you know 

 of any exception to this rule? 



This great Congress, of notable record and honorable achievement, typifies 

 the discontent of man with certain of nature's desert conditions. To remedy 

 these, this Congress has advocated the diversion of waters from their natural 

 courses in order that arid land may be made to produce. It is fitting that, 

 having seen this proposition gaining headway at every milestone, with ulti- 

 mate success as inevitable as the round of the seasons, this Congress should 

 now, with that helpfulness and altruism that has marked its every act, 

 lend a part of its energy toward the conversion of another great natural 

 blot into a place of American homes and fertile fields so that the East and 

 the West, the North and the South may unite in that inspiring demand of 

 the Irrigation Congress, "Make homes on the land." 



*From address delivered at Irrigation Congress in Chicago, in December. 



