We are happy, gentlemen, to have been able to grant your request to be received this morning and to say a word of encouragement for the contribution your Commission makes to the welfare of your fellow-men.

The words Irrigation and Drainage may strike a very material and prosaic note; and yet they speli out a human aid to the fruitfulness of nature, on which depend more or less the health of vast sections of society as well as their social and consequent moral betterment. The very international character of your Commission bears witness to the worldwide need of the complex engineering projects you are developing and trying to make more perfect.

The art of irrigation and its absolutely necessary concomitant, drainage, has come a long way across the thousands of years since man first began to harness certain forces of this earth and guide them to an increased and more dependable productivity according to the character of the soil, and the demands of a planned agriculture. The natural riches lavishly prepared by God for the creature of His infinite Love have been made more useful for more men, human misery has been relieved and means provided for the improvement of family and civic life. So far-reaching are the results of the work for which your Commission speaks. May God prosper it! And may His blessings also enrich your own lives and the lives of those who are near and dear to you.

*Discorsi e Radiomessaggi di Sua Santità Pio XII, XX,
Ventesimo anno di Pontificato, 2 marzo - 9 ottobre 1958, p. 161
Tipografia Poliglotta Vaticana