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Show THE WESTERN WEB 43 and its needs. In his first message to Congress he said: It is as right for the national government to make the streams and rivers of the arid region useful by engineering works for the storage of water as to make useful the rivers and harbors of the humid regions by engineering works of another character. The first Roosevelt made it clear that one of the major objectives of his administration was a sound and far-reaching reclamation program. Action followed swiftly his pronouncements. Rep. Francis G. Newlands of Nevada introduced a reclamation bill which had Mr. Roosevelt's approval. It was passed on June 3, 1902, receiving little opposition in either house of Congress. On June 17, 1902, President Roosevelt signed the famous Reclamation Act, and a national policy and program was born. The Reclamation Act of 1902 was the basic law upon which all proposed projects were predicated. It weathered innumerable attempts to change and destroy it. But the greatest attempt in nearly half a century came with the introduction of S. 1175, which would re- vise and disfigure it until little of the original intent remained. During the years following the inauguration of the 1902 law, as millions of acres were reclaimed and brought into cultivation, as great dams were constructed and immense lakes formed where only desert bleakness had existed, as power lines ran their long fingers over mountains and plains to distant cities, Congress, how- ever, found it wise to amend the basic statute, mainly for the purpose of adequately meeting changing eco- nomic and social conditions and requirements. But the amendments adopted did not disturb the original foun- |