THE PRESIDENT IRRIGATION We cannot allow the message to go to our readers without a special word of appreciation for the Presidents exhaustive and very able discussion of the water question In the arid region re-gion All who read that portion of his message which relates to this subject must agree that he understands It thoroughly I and they will also agree that his treatment of the problejii to be solved and his suggestions toward salving It are practical and shrewd On one point only will there be any disposition lo criticise and that Is where he suggests the State ownership and control of tho water but after all when we consider as the fact Is that every vested right In water Is only aright a-right to its use and that State ownership owner-ship would not In the least Interfere with but rather promote and make sure this use there will not likely be any opposition The broad and statesmanlike position posi-tion taken by the President on this question that the handling of the I streams by the National Government for Irrigation purposes is of the same general principle a Its handling the streams for other purposes as navigation naviga-tion and leveeing is strikingly appropriate appro-priate and exact lie would have thc Government handle the streams for irrigation ir-rigation and for making and t illliiig reservoirs the enterprise Is on too vast and costly a scale for private handling It Is too great for the Stales and besides InterState questions forbid for-bid effective State action but after the reservoirs are put In the Government Govern-ment could cooperate with thc States In the distribution of tho water and the regulation of its use The whole discussion of the Irrigation Irriga-tion and reservoir question Is of n very high order of statesmanship It I marks President Roosevelt as n man of practical observation excellent power of grasping a subject and admirable ad-mirable skill In stating the case Thc subject Is discussed with ability of a very high order the whole arid region will crown him with welldeserved praise He has opened up a new question ques-tion for National action and opened It In such a way that good results are reasonably sure with Bullcr in retirement and others In command the Boer war did not come to an end The promises that the men of the Transvaal would soon be overcome over-come were not fulfilled Moro money and more men were called for and were given and still the war went on Then It began to be understood by the British public that the hope that had revived it from despondency was unwarranted un-warranted and again the voice of discontent dis-content arose this time against Kitch I ener and the other Idols who so soon were to have brilliantly put an end to the conflict I As the war dragged on exasperating the English by the desultory character I of Its engagements the thought that I perhaps an Injustice had been done Gen Buller pervaded the English mind Thc nature of the war continued to be such as to encourage this feeling feel-ing and people who had denounced Sir Redvers presently began to admit that I he had not had a fair chance The I banquet given to him In London the other evening was a British way of confessing a wrong but It affords another an-other example to the world of the celerity ce-lerity with which the sentiment of a big nation may swing from one extreme ex-treme to another President Roosevelt also has troubles of his own Mrs Annie Driggs of Kansas Kan-sas sees him personally about admitting admit-ting her newspaper to the malls