THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



151 



nificent commonwealth of land, it was magnificent to 

 make some showing as to the value of that land, as to 

 the funds that might reasonably be expected to arise 

 from its administration; so the honorable forester pro- 

 ceeds to capitalize the proposition. And this is from 

 the record presented by Senator Flint of California, who 

 was at that time presenting in a favorable manner the 

 needs and the wants and purposes of the forestry 

 bureau. So I say I can assume, I think, and that it 

 will not be a violent assumption, that this tabulation 

 was made by that bureau. 

 The report reads : 



PRESENT CAPITALIZED VALUE OF THE FOREST RESERVES 

 (127,078,658 ACRES, NOVEMBER 27, 1906.) 



1. Stumpage value of 330,000,000 feet 



of timber, at $2 per M $ 660,000,000 



2. 110,000,000 acres, capable of pro- 



ducing commercial forest, at $1 per 



acre ' 110,000,000 



3. 110,000,000 acres of range for graz- 



ing live stock, at IJ^ cents per acre 

 (capitalized at 5 per cent.) 30,000,000 



4. 83,000,000 acre-feet of water for ir- 



rigation purposes, at 10 cents per 

 acre-foot (capitalized at 5 per 

 cent.) 166,000,000 



5. 3,000,000 horsepower, capable of be- 



ing developed from water in re- 

 serves, at $10 t>er horsepower (cap- 

 italized at 5 per cent.) 600,000,000 



6. Estimated value of occupancy and 



use of reserve land, products, and 



resources additional to the above. . 5,000,000 



7. Permanent improvements now on 



the reserves (roads, trails, cabins, 



telephones, etc.) 5,000,000 



Total $1,576,000,000 



Less 10 per cent, for private holdings. . . 157,600,000 



$1,418,400,000 



If that first item doesn't mean that there is a com- 

 mercial asset that could be capitalized and pay five 

 per cent, on the investment, what under heaven's name 

 does it mean? 



Now, in view of the statement that has been 

 made here today, and at other times during this Con- 

 vention, that there never had been a purpose to in- 

 terfere with or to sell the irrigating waters from these 

 forest reserves, I want to read to you the fourth part 

 of this estimate: 



"Fourth. Eighty-three million acre-feet of water 

 for irrigation purposes, at ten cents per acre-foot, cap- 

 italized at five per cent, $166,000,000." 



What does the forestry service capitalize it for un- 

 less they wish to derive revenue from it? Did the for- 

 estry service, when they presented that report to Con- 

 gress, have the intention they express now to impound 

 the irrigating waters of these sovereign states that oc- 

 air upon these forest reservations? 



Now, we will go a little further: 



"Three billion horsepower, capable of being de- 

 veloped from water in reserves, at $10 per horsepower, 

 capitalized at five per cent, six hundred million dol- 

 lars." 



And they are right at your doors and mine. 



Mr. De Eicqles (Colorado) : Don't you think it 

 would .be a very good thing for the Government to 

 take care of all that property for its people? 



Senator Clark : I am glad you asked the question. 

 I do not blieve it is a good policy for this republican 

 form of Government to interfere in any way with the 

 free exercise of my rights in my home, in my business 

 relations or in my private affairs, as long as I keep 

 the law. (Applause.) Undoubtedly this great Gov- 

 ernment could put riches into its coffers; undoubtedly 

 this great Government could husband its resources, Dr. 

 Wilson, and keep them from you and me. The Gov^~ 

 eminent itself might wax and grow fat, but it would 

 soon cease to be republican. (Applause.) 



But perhaps you think I talk as though I were 

 opposed to forest reserves. I am not opposed to forest 

 reserves; I am in favor of forest reserves administered 

 as forest reserves. (Applause.) And the Congress of 

 the United States, in 1891, never intended to intrust 

 any executive power with the tremendous authority that 

 seems to be incorporated in this statement from the 

 bureau. It intended to do what every reasonable man 

 at that time thought it intended to do, and that was to 

 protect the forests at the headwaters of our streams and 

 conserve our water supply. Far has it wandered from 

 its original conception. If the present policy is con- 

 tinued, if there is no halt called upon it, under the 

 splendid guidance of Gifford Pinchot in that direction, 

 it will reach its scientific result, and when these one 

 hundred and twenty-seven million acres are all admin- 

 istered in a scientific way, it will require an army of 

 more than a hundred thousand Federal officials to ad- 

 minister it. That is not my statement; it is the state- 

 ment of a gentleman who today stands at the head 

 of that service. I honor him for his enthusiasm; I 

 honor him for trying to build up in the best possible 

 way this great enterprise with which he has been en- 

 trusted; but I warn the people of my own state and 

 the people of the whole Eocky mountain region of 

 the road they may have to travel. 



Now, Mr. President, it has been urged in letters, 

 it has been urged from this platform, that all the pres- 

 ent policies of the administration are in favor of the 

 small holder. It seems strange that men holding views 

 so diametrically opposite to each other should each think 

 they are walking along the same road. But theory is 

 one thing, practice and results are another. (Applause.) 

 I say without fear of successful contradiction in a 

 practical way that the creation of land into forest re- 

 serves destroys it as a place for homes. (Applause.) 



It is said that the law provides that the lands 

 shall be open for homestead entry. I want to know 

 how many homestead entries have been made under 

 this one hundred and fifty million acres of land with- 

 in the last twelve months. The trials and difficulties 

 from start to finish that a homesteader is up against are 

 something that discourage him from the very start. 

 In the first place, instead of having one department 

 of the Government to deal with, he has two, as I under- 

 stand it. Instead of being allowed to select land which 

 he believes will furnish the foundation for a farm, he 

 has got to select land that some other man tells him 'is 

 fit for agriculture. 



(Continued in April Issue.) 



