THE NATION'S UNDEVELOPED RESOURCES 



219 



It is not without precedent in principle 

 or in fact for the United States to im- 

 prove its own property and for its ad- 

 vances take a mortgage upon the wealth 

 it creates, and in one-half of 50 years we 

 would regain our capital. 



Inasmuch as the title to these oil and 

 other lands would remain in the gov- 

 ernment and be excluded from State 

 taxation, it would seem to be fair that 

 a certain percentage of the royalties 

 received should go to the States within 

 which the revenues are raised. Twenty- 

 five per cent might be a minimum, but a 

 higher percentage would seem advisable 

 if the whole might remain for a time in 

 the government's hands to be used in such 

 cooperative irrigation enterprises as the 

 State might desire, and after such use has 

 been made and the fund replenished, be 

 fully released to the State. 



COOPERATION OP THE PEDERAT GOVERN- 

 MENT WITH THE STATES 



This suggestion of cooperation with 

 the State is not made idly. I look for- 

 ward with confidence to a more intimate 

 relationship between the States and the 

 Federal government in undertaking this 

 work of developing the West. The mass 

 of the people are sympathetic with the 

 purposes of the government. They re- 

 gard with pride the great engineering 

 works of this service, which stand as 

 monuments to the interest of the nation 

 in their welfare. 



So cordial, indeed, is the spirit of the 

 West toward this work that within a few 

 months the State government of Oregon 

 and the Federal government, through the 

 Reclamation Service, have become part- 

 ners in several projected irrigation plans, 

 one involving no less than the pumping 

 of water from the Columbia River by 

 electric power generated by the river 

 itself. A similar cooperative enterprise 

 has been entered upon with the State of 

 Washington. 



The plan is that we shall do the work, 

 supplying one-half the funds and the 

 State one-half. This is a tendency which 

 it is well to foster; for the State will 

 well appreciate the effort of the nation 

 when it makes like sacrifice itself. And 

 nothing could more induce to the success 



of the nation's effort than to have some 

 local check and interest. To place at a 

 State's service a large sum gathered from 

 the resources of the public lands within 

 her borders t would enable this character 

 of mutual effort to expand. 



This can be done if we will retain for 

 national improvement a portion of the 

 national resources. And this may be 

 done, I believe, with the hearty good will 

 of the people who are chiefly concerned — 

 the people of the West. 



One reason stands out demanding the 

 promptest possible action in this matter. 

 Reservoir sites are few and becoming 

 fewer each succeeding year. Those that 

 may be had are rising steadily in value. 

 So valuable, indeed, have some sites be- 

 come since the institution of the Recla- 

 mation Service that projected enterprises 

 are not now regarded as feasible, for the 

 dependent lands which it was intended 

 to irrigate can not make a return suffi- 

 cient to pay the increased cost. 



And let this not be forgotten, that 

 stored water means more than fields of 

 alfalfa, generous orchards, and the homes 

 of hearty husbandmen ; it means power 

 for industries, light and heat for town 

 and farm. These two — irrigation and 

 hydro-electric power — are companions. 

 One does not think of the one without 

 suggesting the other. And the magic 

 worked by each is rivaled by its mate. 

 Electricity is coal and kerosene which 

 need no railroad to transport them. The 

 significance of these irrigation reservoirs 

 from this point of view is but beginning 

 to be appreciated and will grow greater 

 as the country becomes more thickly 

 populated and factories come to supple- 

 ment the farms. 



THE ENORMOUS VALUE OP POWER SITES 



And this brings me to the consideration 

 of the government's policy toward the 

 use of the public lands for reservoir and 

 dam sites. It is one of the most per- 

 plexing problems that engages the mind 

 of the man who wishes to see the West 

 thrive more abundantly. What is such 

 land worth? Are we justified in meas- 

 uring its value by the use to which it is 

 put, or should we yield this strategic 

 resource without compensation ? 



