two men, Gifford Pinchot and F. H. Newell, the twin policies that
were to become two of the finest contributions to American
progress of the Roosevelt Administrations. Both men were already
in the Government service, both were men of broad vision and high
constructive ability; with both Roosevelt had already worked when
he was Governor of New York. The name of Newell, who became chief
engineer of the Reclamation Service, ought to be better known
popularly than it is in connection with the wonderful work that
has been accomplished in making the desert lands of western
America blossom and produce abundantly. The name of Pinchot, by a
more fortunate combination of events, has become synonymous in
the popular mind with the conservation movement.

On the very day that the first Roosevelt message was read to the
Congress, a committee of Western Senators and Congressmen was
organized, under the leadership of Senator Francis G. Newlands of
Nevada, to prepare a Reclamation Bill. The only obstacle to the
prompt enactment of the bill was the undue insistence upon State
Rights by certain Congressmen, "who consistently fought for local
and private interests as against the interests of the people as a
whole." In spite of this shortsighted opposition, the bill became
law on June 17, 1902, and the work of reclamation began without
an instant's delay. The Reclamation Act set aside the proceeds of
the sale of public lands for the purpose of reclaiming the waste
areas of the arid West.

Lands otherwise worthless were to be irrigated and in those new
regions of agricultural productivity homes were to be
established. The money so expended was to be repaid in due course
by the settlers on the land and the sums repaid were to be used