AMERICAN FOREST CONGRESS 227 



bers of this Congress. His companion was one of 

 California's most able and eminent men, a mental 

 athlete who failed, after thirty years of experience 

 and observation, to classify the great San Joaquin 

 Valley as agricultural. In view of such experiences, 

 what must we expect of any expert or commission 

 charged with the classification of the vast areas of arid 

 lands. What could the expert have told you of the 

 oil wells of California and Texas thirty years ago? 



With the rapid development of irrigation and water 

 storage with governmental aid, and with the develop- 

 ment of water from beneath the surface scarcely be- 

 gun, the future possibilities of the deserts, valleys, and 

 plains of the Western domain are yet beyond our 

 comprehension, and the Government should hold fast 

 these titles for the home-builders of the future which 

 will come with these developments. 



Through each step of this evolution we must re- 

 member the absent home-builders of little means and 

 limited opportunities, and zealously protect their op- 

 portunities for the future against the encroachments 

 of the strong and aggressive, if we expect them to 

 raise up patriotic sons and daughters who will perpet- 

 uate this as a just and free government ; the grandest 

 heritage we can leave to our posterity, to humanity. 



