GREAT ANDJMING WEST ^Irrigation Will Change Deserts to Gardens and ^ Provide Lands for Millions of Homes. | OOSEVELT’S STRONG. FRIENDLY HAND Policy that Increases the Sum of Human Happiness and Enlarges and Strength ens the Republic. I When President Roosevelt said. “I Belong west of the Missouri RIVER.” he spoke from his heart. It Ij not that he loved the east less, the west more. le felt that, in a certain way, the utry at large did not properly appre te this crude, big brother, whose iderful development and accomplish es are destined to bring the greatest te and riches to the family—the Na i. He got acquainted with this big ther and found out that he was worth miug and saving. He started out at e upon his patriotic aud philanthropic sion. Ir. Roosevelt firmly believes there is hing too good for the west. He has that section next to its immeasur e future, by the National Irrigation which, it is universally admitted. Id not have become a law without urgent personal influence in the use, any more than without his sig nature as President. Then, there is his “Open Door” policy in China, and the ■Manama Canal, assured as a permanent iflpghway to the world’s commerce. These ^measures are vitally associated with the r west. Know* and Love* the West, tir No other President has ever spoken at such length or so explicitly on the sub ject of irrigation. It is equally true that no other President ever had so wide an acquaintance with the subject as Mr. Roosevelt possesses. He is, as it were, nu adopted c-luhl of the west and knows its wants and sympathizes with them. The proposed reservoirs in connection | with the reclamation service will hus I band for the great empire beyond the | Mississippi the waters necessary to add I the desert reaches there to habitations \ and productivity. This will insure the enduring qualities of his fame. His knowledge of the west shines through all his utterances. He holds that irri gation is the coming necessity, and that by it our natural resources can be un covered to a degree undreamed of and our population and industry more than doubled within our contiuental limits. His work here will mark the special achievement of his administration, and his irrigation proclamation will go down in history as one of of the greatest acts of any President. Potency of National Act, The National Irrigation Act is gauged on an honest, intelligent, extensive plan, ■well considered, and will be wisely car ried out. By it we will be able as a nation to add to all former triumphs of this Republic new illustrations of our power to do things. By a system of judicious forestry almost the entire area can be re-forested, in a hundred years. The climate could be changed and im proved. We could give an impetus to every kind of trade, which, with our new advantages in the Orient, would more than double the volume of our present commercial traffic. In this area of intense agricultural and horticultural development will be created a field for ♦he exercise of every kind of skill and every attainment of handicraft. Here many of the vexed social and economic questions are destined to be settled. In giving to the Nation a race of land owners, a race of men and women will be insured who, by interest, instinct and choice, will be patriots. Innate Home-Ownlnc Desire. There is an innate desire in the heart of the Anglo-Saxon American to own a home. There is nn inherent yearning of the common people, apparent on every page of history, to own in fee simple some portion of the earth. The desire is still as keen as it ever was. Of all of our wealth producing class, the farm er needs a home most. lie must have land, he should by all means own it. His farm need not be so large as some suppose, but it should belong to the farmer, not to some one else. This is not only self-evident because of the ad vantages to the farmer, but because of its advantages to the Nation at large. It is the cornerstone of our National life; it lies at the root of all true pa triotism and ail social improvement and content. Giv* a man a home upon the soil and yon have made him a patriot who will defend your institutions at the ballot box or on the battle field. Open the doors of this great arid west, with th" key of National Irrigation, and you nee’ not worry about the future. Let the people have easy access to the land an l most of our other troubles will settle themselves. The property owner is a conservative man who loves his family and his country. Let th% property own ers be as numerous as possible. Hope for Honest Toll. The National Irrigation Act, passed by a Republican Congress at Mr. Roose velt’s earnest request and ns a result of his personal efforts, has already be gun its work of measureless good t * American citizenship. It is placin.. within the reach of the landless man our manless land. It is to speak with n voice that cannot be misunderstood. By combining the two powerful factors of irrigation and reclamation, in its up building work of the Nation, its mis sion will be well night irresistible. It will lift from the pathway of the bread winner the dead weight of poverty and congestion which has obstructed our na tional progress, created internecine strug gles between capital and labor and threatened to shipwreck our future pros perity. Expansive Arena of Action. The arid region, extending in the main from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean and from Mexico to Canada, em braces an area, generally speaking, o.' about 1J500 miles either way. Here is w«h#rt Is known as arid America. Tlu country abounds in mountains, plains and valleys. It is here that the govern ment proposes to apply the workings of the National Irrigation Act and to re claim all of the arid land which may be ascertained to be arable and which is found to be susceptible of reclama tion by the amount of water available. Government experts estimate that the present amount of land which may he irrigated is about one hundred million acres. This can be reclaimed by apply ing the amount of water now available, direct. It is also estimated that after irrigation lias been applied to the soil for three or four years, a less quantity of water is necessary and hence an ad ditional area of perhaps fifty millions acres more may possibly be added to the reclamation area. Nature Did the Needful. Nature seems to have employed every resource at its command to make the mountain and plain region the most fav ored portion of the earth’s surface for the habitation of man. This section will oue day be the seat of empire of the United States, and. consequently, the world. For a distance of more than a thousand miles there are successive chains of mountains, in general course running north and south aud on parallel lines, with numerous valleys occupying the immediate ground. Each valley, large or small, has its stream, carrying, with rapid fall, the melting snows of the tributary moun tains. The grades in general favor the operation of irrigating eauals which take the water from streams aud carry it at a moderate fall to lines above the cultivated land. As the spring sea son advances, the rainfall decreases, the crops need more and more water, which is furnished automatically by the gradual increase of the temperature along and up the mountain side, reaching the light est deposit of snow first, and then, during the later and hotter months, drawing upon the reserve of the deeper and less easier melted ice at the higher altitudes. Fertility of Arid Boil. Under the rains of centuries much of the soluble plant foods in eastern soils have been washed into the sea. Where no rainfall exists the plant food remains. The government analyses of soils show that the arid lands average three times as much i*>tash. six times as much mag nesia and fourteen times as much lime as the humid lands. Any farmer will tell you that a limestone country is a rich country. To replace the food taken by growing plants the eastern farmer resorts to fertilizers and manure. Start ing with a rich soil, the irrigationist also finds fertilizing strength in the water he uses. The mannrial value held in solu tion in 315 inches of water—the amount applied to one acre in a season at the University of Arizona—amounted to $3.07. Ten acres under irrigation aver age better returns than 40-acre crops, in the usual way. Land Very Valuable. In those communities of the west which have been created by irrigation, the average yield of wheat, potatoes and small fruits far exceeds that of the best farming district in Iowa or Missouri or the best part of the Mississippi Val ley. Although comparatively remote from the world's markets for products, an acre of land under water rights in the very heart of the arid region, will command a higher price than an acre in the humid Mississippi Valley. The farm ers have learned that 40 acres, well till ed. will yield more profit than 4ii0 acres farmed in the old. haphazard way. In tensive farming and larger profits from smaller farms are making closely settled communities, establishing nearby neigh l>ors, schools, churches and libraries, and the isolation of old farm life no longer exists. The farmer makes more money, and the deadly monotony of life does not drive his children from home, or his wife to the insane asylum. Roosevelt Immortalized, • The passage of the National Irriga tion Act is tantamount to saying that the west is already redeemed—it is now only a question of time. Perhaps no law has been passed since the founda tion of this government winch has been or can be so prolific in great and last ing results to the United States. No Ihav has ever been enacted which will add so much stability, wealth, happi ness and general prosperity to the peo ple and the government as the National Irrigation Law. Here is a neAv field for the most hope ful speculation. It cannot be that any human mind has yet been able to esti mate the far-reaching, the fruitful re sults which will folioAT in the wake of this National Aat. Lincoln is immortal ized for his Emancipation Proclamation. Iloosevelt will be immortalized because he has done that which will set free from the thraldom of the congested cen ters of population, millions of families who can and will feel grateful to him and his memory as they sit under their own vine and figtree and enjoy all the comforts and contentment of their new and enlarged life of health, happiness and usefulness. Make it easy for the average citizen to become a land owner and you strengthen tenfold his allegiance and de votion to his country and family. Mil lions can now get homes in the irrigated West, under the Natioual Irrigation Act. By actual test in southern California it has been found—counting the urban and rural populations together—that one and one-half acres of irrigated land will support one person, and it is estimated that this can ultimately be reduced' to a aingle acre for each individual. (Reproduced from Philadelphia Inquirer.) A sad blow—burying the first-born In Vermont. BILLION DOLLAR COUNTRY Facta Which It Is Desirable to Bear in Mind. Evidently Judge Parker has lost track of the fact that the United States has become a billion-dollar country, while be has been dreaming away his man hood on the bench at Albany. Otherwise it is impossible to account for his ac ceptance of “the Republican challenge to a comparison of Democratic and Re publican administrations.*’ If there is any issue before the Ameri can people upon which the Republicans are more ready to appeal to the voters than another, it is that relating to the administration of national finances. But they will not let Judge Parker, or the hungry aggregation of Democratic edi tors to whom he addressed his Rip Van Winkle remarks, ignore the fact that the United States of 1904 deals with billions, where in Cleveland's first ad ministration its finances could be dis cussed in terms of nine figures. Neither will they permit him to compare net expenditures under Cleveland with ex traordinary appropriations under Mc Kinley and Roosevelt. n lien he makes his comparisons be tween the expenditures of 1S85-1888 with those of 1901-1903 he will not be per mitted to ignore such facts as the in crease in postal expenditures from $50, 942.415 in 1885 to $138,784,487 in 1903. and that the excess of expenditures on account of the postal service over re ceipts last year was only $4,500,044, as compared with $8,381,572. As an index of the growth of the Uni ted States in every direction that marks advance in national welfare there can be no better standard than the increased use of an ever improving and extending mail service. Neither will Judge Parker nor the edi tors to whom lie unbosomed a choice medley of ideas from the wit and wis dom of Samuel J. Tilden and Grover Cleveland, be permitted to “point with Democratic pride" to the enforced econ omies of Cleveland’s second term 1893 1896, without being confronted with the following deficits that waited on Demo cratic policy and Democratic adminis tration: DEFICITS DURING CLEVELAND S SEC OND TERM. 1894 .$09,803,261 1895 . 42.805,223 1890 . 25.203.240 With no exceptional expenditures, over $260,000,000 was added to the public debt during Cleveland’s term. And when they are discussing the expense of running the government of a people that has increased nearly 50 per cent, in population and more than 100 per cent, in wealth since Grover Cleve land was first inaugurated, Republicans will not forget to remind American vo ters of such billion-dollar facts as these: money in circulation. 1885. 1903. $1,292,568,615. $2,367,602,169. Deposits in National Ranks, $1,106,376,517. $3,260,993,509. Deposits in Savings Ranks. $1,005,172,147. $2,935,204,845. Deposits in State Ranks, $344,307,916. $1,814,570,163. Deposits in Loan and Trust Companies. $188,417,203. $1,589,398,790. Total Imports. $577,527,329. $1,025,719,237. Total Exports. $742,189,755. $1,420,141,679. VALUE OF FARMS. (Estimated on Census returns for 1SS0, 1890 and 1900.) 1885. 1903. $14,000,000,000. $22,000,000,000 them, was invaded by cheap for eign goods, however. Then the protective tariff system was reinstated by the people of this country, and immediately the factories began to turn their wheels again. Within ten years we have demonstrated that the way to get the markets of the world is to protect our own market against invasion, build up our industries, and then branch out for foreign trade. We have not had anything like free trade within those ten years, and yet we arc selling millions of dollars’ worth of goods every year in the “markets of the world.” In Congress, last winter. Congressman Hill, of Connecticut, told of a recent visit he had made abroad. He said: “I stood on the deck of a Japanese liner in the harbor of Vladivostok, Russian Siberia. In the hold of that ship was over 700 tons of American agricultural implements that had come across the Pacific ocean from America for the use of the peasants of Siberia, and shipped there under the Dingiey tariff bill. That night at the hotel I met the represent ative of a locomotive works in Phila delphia who told me he had jnst put in 150 locomotives, for use in the Siberian railway, shipped there under the Ding lev tariff law. “.Next day I rode 500 miles up the banks of the Amur river over American steel rails shipped there under the Dingiey tariff law. Then I got aboard a steamer to go up the Amur 1.500 miles. It was American built, towed two steel barges made in Pittsburg, shipped there under the Dingiey tariff law. “In the village of Gorbitza, Siberia, ten thousand miles from here, the vil lage consisting of a dozen log houses, iu a little store not over 8 by 10, we bought a package of candy, wrapped in paper on which was printed the picture of William McKinley, to popularize that candy among the peasants of Siberia, all shipped under the Dingiey tariff law.” That looks as if we had a slice of the markets of the world, but we never ^rot anywhere near them under Demo cratic tariff ideas. Vila* Arraigns Hia Own Party. Former Senator Vilas attended the Wisconsin Democratic State convention held at Oshkosh, where harmony was lacking, and made this statement in closing the debate on the adoption of the platform: I came to the Democratic State Conven tion hoping for harmony and was joyful In that hope. But I find here that the Democratic party is nothing, knows noth ing about the great principles on which it was founded and which has made it a power, and must throw itself a wav on a mere question of political machinery in jected by crafty politicians. Mr. Vilas has been a long time in finding out what a majority of the vot ers of the nation learned years ago. We are not constrained to keep silent on any vital question! we arc divided on no vital question! oar policy is con* tinnous, and is tha same for all sec* tions and localities. There is nothing experimental about the government we ask tbe people to continue in power, for our performance in the past, our proved governmental efficiency, is a guarantee as to our promises for the future.—President Roosevelt. One private reclamation project near Phoenix, Ariz., created a taxable prop erty of over ten million dollars in less than twenty years, and that from land practically worthless until irrigated. It was uader President Harrison's Republican administration in 1S91 that the first Federal forest reserve was es tablished. This was the beginning of actual growth in national forestry. At the average rate of increase in the past we will have over 160.000.000 peo ple in the United States within ?ae next 30 years. The west must supply most of these with homes. GASSAWAY’S FAVORITE POEM (Henry Gassaway Davis’ favorite poem is “Exeelsior.”—Current note.) The shades of night were falling fast. When up through West Virginia passed A youth who held within his hand A banner with this strange command: ' “Fork over.” “What seek ye?” cried the ones he met; “I seek the bar’l; I’ll tiud it yet— I'll get that check we want, you bet.” He sang, as Davisward he set: “Fork over.” "Try not that task,” the maiden cried; But only fruitlessly she sighed. For he replied: “We need the stuff,” And chortled then in accents gruff: “Fork over.” 1 “O. stay, vain youth.” an old man called, At such self-contidence appalled, “liost think his name is Giveaway?” The youth sang, through the dying day, “Fork over.” On. on he went, by hill and dale, Until the night at dawn grew pale. And then at last, with heart elate, He murmured to the candidate: "Fork over.” He saw the barrel round and fair— Alasl he saw no buughole there! The candidate without his spec’s To read the banner did not vex— “Fork over.” "I cannot hear a word.” he sighed. “You heard when you were notilied!” The earnest youth at once replied And then more vigorously cried: "Fork over.” * • • They found him, frozen stiff and cold, His banner still within his hold— And now they send no strange device. They simply say: "We want the price— Fork over.” THEODORE ROOSEVELT. The People Trnet Him Both as Man and President. More au