results and gave them unquestioning support. In Roosevelt's own
words, "the men in charge were given to understand that they must
get into the water if they would learn to swim; and, furthermore,
they learned to know that if they acted honestly, and boldly and
fearlessly accepted responsibility, I would stand by them to the
limit. In this, as in every other case, in the end the boldness
of the action fully justified itself."

The work of reclamation was first prosecuted under the United
States Geological Survey; but in the spring of 1908 the United
States Reclamation Service was established to carry it on, under
the direction of Mr. Newell, to whom the inception of the plan
was due. Roosevelt paid a fine and well-deserved tribute to the
man who originated and carried through this great national
achievement when he said that "Newell's single-minded devotion to
this great task, the constructive imagination which enabled him
to conceive it, and the executive power and high character
through which he and his assistant, Arthur P. Davis, built up a
model service--all these made him a model servant. The final
proof of his merit is supplied by the character and records of
the men who later assailed him."

The assault to which Roosevelt thus refers was the inevitable
aftermath of great accomplishment. Reclamation was popular, when
it was proposed, while it was being carried out, and when the
water began to flow in the ditches, making new lands of fertile
abundance for settlers and farmers. But the reaction of
unpopularity came the minute the beneficiaries had to begin to
pay for the benefits received. Then arose a concerted movement
for the repudiation of the obligation of the settlers to repay