St. Paul daily globe., 1895-11-29
FORESTS AND ARID LANDS.

of the land office during the past
twelve months, the secretary takes
up the question of the disposition
of the arid lands and the preSerVa-
ton of the forests. He urges that
these two questions are closely al
lied, for the quantity of arid lands
far exceeds the present water supply,
even if it were all utilized for irriga-
tion. The increase of the supply of
water must depend upon the growth
and preservation of the forests. At
tention is called to the failure of the
Carey bill to accomplish the results
expected, and the secretary attributes
this to the fact that the bill intended
that money for their irrigation should
be raised upon the arid lands given to
the states. This has been impossi-
BILE on account of the fact that suffi-
cient control over the lands was not
given to the states to make them
available as security for the money
expended in their reclamation. The
secretary suggests the advisability
of patenting the lands to the states
after it is fully determined that the
selections made by them under the
Carey act are arid lands. He calls
attention to the fact that the reser-
voir sites selected by the geological
survey remain without proper leg
islation providing for their use, while
the water they were expected to store
is being diverted to less practicable
and economical sites. He suggests
the utilization of these sites in con-
nection with the lands granted to
the states under the Carey act.
Under the subject of forests, the sec
retary calls attention to the fact that
17.OG0, 900 acres are now included with
in forest reserves, the object being to
thus preserve the forests for future
use, and through their preservation
to control the supply Of water so that
it may be stored and utilized for ir-
rigation. The present force of the
general land Office, it is stated, is in
adequate to protect these reservations.
Unless some plan is devised by con-
gress for the protection of the for
ests either by the army or by forest
ers living on the reservations, it is
manifest that the object sought to be
accomplished will fail. The secretary
criticises the law authorizing the lease
of permits for the cutting of timber
from the public domain, and urges that
the timber cut therefrom should be
sold for a sufficient sum to make it
possible to preserve the standing for
est and see that the cutting is done in
a way not destructive to it.
The review of the pension Office con-
sists chiefly of statistical information
furnished by that bureau.
THE PACIFIC ROADS.
One Of the interesting features of
the report Is the discussion of the
relations between the government and
the Pacific bond-aided roads, and of the
possibility of collecting the amount
due the government from these roads.
The report urges that two things
are to be considered: First, the col
lection of the debt due to the gov
ernment; and, second, the creation
of a great through line from the Mis-
souri, to the Pacific, which was the
original purpose of the government
leading to the issue Of subsidy bonds.
The report shows in detail the amount
of the subsidy bonds, the amount of
the interest which the government
has paid ON them, and the amount of
the first mortgage bonds. The secre-
tary says the government is already
out Sill, ,436, 600 on these roads, and that
the first mortgage bonds only amount
to $64, $4,000; that the property is worth
vastly more than the first mortgage
bonds, and that the government inter-
eStS can be protected, if necessary,
by taking up these bonds. He says
that all of these bonds are now matur-
ing and draw per cent: that they can
easily be replaced with a 3-per-cent
bond, if the government guaranteed
them, and as the government holds a
second lien and must protect the prop
erty against the first lien, the gov
ernment should see to it, if any new set
of bonds is Issued that the first mort
gage bonds draw no higher rate of
interest than the government bonds
would draw. The secretary says that
the net earnings of each one of the
lines during the past ten years have
made an average of nearly per cent
on the sum of the first mortgage bonds
and the government subsidy bonds,
and suggests the possibility of new
issue of bonds, guaranteed by the gov
eTIlmenC, drawing 3 per cent, equal
in amount to the first mortgage bonds
and the subsidy bonds, with the inter-
est on the same. AS the roads could
easily earn the interest en- these bonds
and leave handsome surplus, capital
lists should be found who would buy
the property, subject to the bonds,
and pay a fair sum into the treasury
each year towards their liquidation.
The secretary discusses the scheme of
the government directors, and also
of the reorganiza ton committee of the
Union Pacific, and finally urges that
the government, being in the attitude of
second mortgage security holder. it
is absolutely necessary, in order to
protect its claim, that negotiations be
had between the government and the
other parties in interest and such cap
italists as are likely to take hold of
the enterprise This work cannot
successfully be performed by con-
gress, and the responsibility for it
should be placed at once by congress
upon commission or upon some duly
authorized representatives of the gov
ernment, whose duty should be to take
the subject up in a business way and
work out the best plan for disposing of
the governments interest with the
least possible loss.
Pensions.
WASHINGTON, Nov v2S-Northwest- |