Speech #470062572

In other European nations land reforms are among the issues which distract and divide public thought. It was said a few years ago by one of the most eloquent orators on this planet that we could have none of the labor troubles in America which agitated the nations of Europe. as our surplus population could always overflow upon the new lands of the West. Butwhen weconsider that 500.000 to 600.000 immigrants are swelling the population every year. the room for overflow will soon be occupied. and we will be driven to the necessity of supplying the lack of new lands to settle. by making what we have more productive. The sagebrush plains of the great interior basin will require irrigation. the products to which they are adapted will be discovered by test and experiment. the depth to which artesian wells must be sunk will be discovered. and the sons of men who have carried culture to the summits of the granite hills of New England will make the arid plains of the great interior basin bud and blossom under the hand of a new and varied cultivation. Today the Agricultural Departmient should have experimental stations in every State and Territory. and bullhtins of observation and experiment should become a part of the literature of the farm.