The benefits which have followed the unaided development of the past justify the nation’s aid and co-operation in the more difficult and important work yet to be accomplished.  Laws so vitally affecting homes as those which control the water supply will only be effective when they have the sanction of the irrigators; reforms can only be final and satisfactory when they come through the enlightenment of the people most concerned.  The larger development which national aid insures should, however, awaken in every arid State the determination to make its irrigation system equal in justice and effectiveness that of any country in the civilized world.  Nothing could be more unwise than for isolated communities to continue to learn everything experimentally, instead of profiting by what is already known elsewhere.  We are dealing with a new and momentous question, in the pregnant years while institutions are forming, and what we do will affect not only the present but future generations.

Our aim should be not simply to reclaim the largest area of land and provide homes for the largest number of people, but to create for this new industry the best possible social and industrial conditions; and this requires that we not only understand the existing situation, but avail ourselves of the best experience of the time in the solution of its problems.  A careful study should be made, both by the Nation and the States, of the irrigation laws and conditions here and abroad.  Ultimately it will probably be necessary for the Nation to co-operate with the several arid States in proportion as these States by their legislation and administration show themselves fit to receive it.

In Hawaii our aim must be to develop the Territory on the traditional American lines.  We do not wish a region of large estates tilled by cheap labor; we wish a healthy American community of men who themselves till the farms they own.  All our legislation for the islands should be shaped with this end in view; the well-being of the average home-maker must afford the true test of the healthy development of the islands.  The land policy should as nearly as possible be modeled on our homestead system.

It is a pleasure to say that it is hardly more necessary to report as to Puerto Rico than as to any State or Territory within our continental limits.  The island is thriving as never before, and it is being administered efficiently and honestly.  Its people are now enjoying liberty and order under the protection of the United States, and upon this fact we congratulate them and ourselves.  Their material welfare must be as carefully and jealously considered as the welfare of any other portion of our country.  We have given them the great gift of free access for their products to the markets of the United States.  I ask the attention of the Congress to the need of legislation concerning the public lands of Puerto Rico.