ng obstacles to
their perpetual and complete absorption of the remaining water-powers.
They tell us it has no significance that there is hardly a bank in some
sections of the country that is not an agency for water-power capital,
or that the General Electric Company interests are acquiring great
groups of water-powers in various parts of the United States, and
dominating the power market in the region of each group. And whoever
dominates power, dominates all industry.

Have you ever seen a few drops of oil scattered on the water spreading
until they formed a continuous film, which put an end at once to all
agitation of the surface? The time for us to agitate this question is
now, before the separate circles of centralized control spread into the
uniform, unbroken, Nation-wide covering of a single gigantic trust.
There will be little chance for mere agitation after that. No man at all
familiar with the situation can doubt that the time for effective
protest is very short. If we do not use it to protect ourselves now, we
may he very sure that the trust will give hereafter small consideration
to the welfare of the average citizen when in conflict with its own.

The man who really counts is the plain American citizen. This is the man
for whom the Roosevelt policies were created, and his welfare is the end
to which the Roosevelt policies lead.

I stand for the Roosevelt policies because they set the common good of
all of us above the private gain of some of us; because they recognize
the livelihood of the small man as more important to the Nation than the
profit of the big man; because they oppose all useless waste at present
at the cost of robbing the future; because they demand the complete,
sane, and orderly development of all our natural resources; because they
insist upon equality of opportunity and denounce monopoly and special
privilege; because, discarding false issues, they deal directly with the
vital questions that really make a difference with the welfare of us
all; and, most of all, because in them the plain American always and
everywhere holds the first place. And I propose to stand for them while
I have the strength to stand for anything.

CHAPTER III

BETTER TIMES ON THE FARM

Ever since I came to have first-hand knowledge of irrigation, I have
been impressed with the peculiar advantages which surround the
irrigation rancher. The high productiveness of irrigated land, resulting
in smaller farm