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demand  for  water,  through  whose  use  alone,  dry  lands  can  be 
made  productive. 
A short-sighted  policy  leads  to  the  easiest  use  in  the  cheapest 
possible  way  of  the  most  obvious  sources,  to  the  neglect  of  others 
of  perhaps  equal  potential  value.  And  the  construction  of  canals 
and  irrigation  systems  on  this  basis  may  make  impossible  the 
final  utilization  of  all  the  sources,  just  as  hurried  careless  lum- 
bering may  render  unavailable  for  man’s  use,  more  timber  than  is 
harvested. 
A far-sighted  policy  on  the  other  hand  calls  first  for  a study  of 
all  the  sources,  their  relations  to  one  another,  their  character,  the 
habit  of  flow  of  streams,  whether  regular  or  spasmodic,  the  possi- 
bilities of  storage  and  of  power  development,  the  relations  of 
underground  supplies  to  surface  supplies  and  to  power,  the  best 
ways  to  integrate  the  two,  and  the  relations  of  soil  and  forest 
cover  to  both.  With  data  of  this  kind  in  hand,  as  a result  of 
years  of  measurement  and  investigation,  the  irrigation  engineer 
can  so  plan  his  construction  as  to  make  the  fullest  possible  use 
of  all  the  water.  Attempts  to  construct  without  such  data  lead 
to  failures  of  a type  with  which  the  arid  lands  of  the  west  are 
dotted.  Expensive  systems  have  been  built  in  many  areas  and  it 
has  been  discovered  later  that  not  sufficient  water  is  available  to 
operate  them,  or  that  an  important  source  has  been  overlooked 
and  could  not  then  be  utilized. 
It  is  to  avoid  errors  of  this  kind  that  a systematic  survey  of  the 
waters  of  the  Territory  is  now  being  undertaken,  and  as  it  pro- 
gresses, you  will  find  yourselves  laying  a broader  and  broader 
foundation  for  that  true  development  that  knows  no  retrogression 
because  it  is  founded  on  precise  knowledge  of  those  factors  upon 
which  it  depends. 
MR.  PINCHOT’S  ADDRESS  AT  SPOKANE. 
The  following  address  of  Mr.  Gifford  Pinchot)  United  Stated. 
Forester , and  Chairman  of  the  National  Conservation  Commis- 
sion, was  delivered  at  the  National  Irrigation  Congress  aft 
Spokane , Washington , August  iotli , 1909: 
The  most  valuable  citizen  of  this  or  any  other  country  is  the 
man  who  owns  the  land  from  which  he  makes  his  living.  No 
other  man  has  such  a stake  in  the  country.  No  other  man  lends 
such  steadiness  and  stability  to  our  national  life.  Therefore,  no 
other  question  concerns  us  more  intimately  than  the  question  of 
homes.  Permanent  homes  for  ourselves,  our  children,  and  our 
Nation — this  is  the  central  problem.  The  policy  of  national  irri- 
gation is  of  value  to  the  United  States  in  very  many  ways,  but 
the  greatest  of  all  is  this,  that  national  irrigation  multiplies  the 
men  who  own  the  land  from  which  they  make  their  living.  The 
old  saying,  “Who  ever  heard  of  a man  shouldering  his  gun  to 
