Presidential addresses and state papers, Volume 2 (of 7)Roosevelt, Theodore
History
Presidential addresses and state papers, Volume 2 (of 7)
Roosevelt, Theodore
Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919; United States -- Politics and government -- 1901-1909
The first great object of the forest reserves is, of course, the
first great object of the whole land policy of the United States,—the
creation of homes, the favoring of the home-maker. That is why we
wish to provide for the home-makers of the present and the future
the steady and continuous supply of timber, grass, and above all, of
water. That is the object of the forest reserves, and that is why I
bespeak your cordial co-operation in their preservation. Remember you
must realize, what I thoroughly realize, that however wise a policy
may be it can be enforced only if the people of the States believe in
it. We can enforce the provisions of the forest reserve law or of any
other law only so far as the best sentiment of the community or the
State will permit that enforcement. Therefore it lies primarily not
with the people at Washington, but with you, yourselves, to see that
such policies are supported as will redound to the benefit of the home
makers and therefore the sure and steady building up of the State as a
whole.
One word as to the greatest question with which our people as a whole
have to deal in the matter of internal development to-day—the question
of irrigation. Not of recent years has any more important law been
put upon the statute books of the Federal Government than the law a
year ago providing for the first time that the National Government
should interest itself in aiding and building up a system of irrigated
agriculture in the Rocky Mountains and plains States. Here the
government had to a large degree to sit at the feet of Gamaliel in the
person of Utah; for what you had done and learned was of literally
incalculable benefit to those engaged in framing and getting through
the national irrigation law. Irrigation was first practiced on a large
scale in this State. The necessity of the pioneers here led to the
development of irrigation to a degree absolutely unknown before on
this continent. In no respect is the wisdom of the early pioneers made
more evident than in the sedulous care they took to provide for small
farms, carefully tilled by those who lived on and benefited from them;
and hence it comes about that the average amount of land required to
support a family in Utah is smaller than in any other part of the
United States. We all know that when you once get irrigation applied
rain is a very poor substitute for it. The Federal Government must
co-operate with Utah and Utah people for a further extension of the
irrigated area. Many of the simpler problems of obtaining and applying
water have already been solved and so well solved that, as I have
said, some of the most important provisions of the Federal act, such
as the control of the irrigating works by the communities they serve,
such as making the water appurtenant to the land and not a source of
speculation apart from the land, were based upon the experience of
Utah. Of course the control of the larger streams which flow through
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