Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1897-04-05
WASHINGTON LETTER.
Service : Preserving the For
ests-Taxing Farmers.
Especial Correspondence

Especial Correspondence
Still the office seeker fingers. You
can tell him at glance. He is gen
tleman of leisure, and he is most com
monty found in hotel sitting rooms or
stro1lila,, leisurely along Pennsylvania
avenue. His patience is marvellous, and
yet it is easy to see that it is gradually
oozing away. Sometimes he expresses
himself more emphatically than politely
concerning the civil service rules, for
these seem to be greater bar to his
ambition than the occupant of the White
House.
Civil service reform!'' I heard him
say sarcastically to an acquaintance the
other day. eff we are to have it in the
case of one official, why not with an
other? If the man who wants consul
ship is to be subject to civil service
examination, why should not the man
who aspires to be collector Of port or
a cabinet official come under the same
rule?
Concerning the Cabinet.
CHOW, I am not going to say any
thing against McKinley's cabinet, but
suppose Secretary Long were to be ex-
amined for the position of head of the
navy. Why, he does not know a bin
nacle from bowsprit, and yet believe
he will prove a splendid man for the
place. And just think of putting Secre-
tary Bliss under an examination for the
position of secretary of the interior! I
don t suppose he ever saw full blooded
Indian, and it is doubtful if he ever Wis
tied the interior of the country for any
length of time. 1t is mighty poor rule
that is not as applicable to an important
position as it is to one of little conse-
quence."
The Waste Of the Forests.
The American people have been wick
edly wasteful of their forests. A halt
to their distinctions should have been
called long ago. Yet the action of ex-
President Cleveland in creating 3 new
forest reserves, with a total area of
nearly $1,000, 900 acres, has been Sc
verely criticised. Under the Harrison
administration about IS, 600, 900 acres
of forest land were withdrawn from sale
and set apart as nucleus of a system
of forest reserves.
The action OF the late President Cleve-
land was in consonance with the recon-
mendatiOn of the national forestry COM
mission made after thorough study of
the data available and visit to nearly
all the reserves in question. The mem
bers of the commission familiarized
themselves with the work of the irriga-
ton surveys, which show the decided
need of preserving all the waters near
the sources of the great streams. In fact,
one great object of the preservation of
the forests is the continuation Of the
water supply.
A Threat OF Veto.
When the sundry civil bill came up
at the close of the last session, rider
was tackled to it which opened these
new reserves to settlers, thus annul-
ling the presidents proclamation set
ting them aside. President Cleveland
promptly intimated that he would veto
the sundry civil bill if it contained such
provision, and the friends of the reserves
prepared an amendment as substitute
for the rider, setting forth a way IN
which the reserve could be made avail
able for mining and domestic purposes.
It provides that forest reservations
found to be more valuable for agricu1-
inspection on the part of a competent
person shall be restored to entry under
the general settlement laws. 1t provides
also that prospectors and mineral claim
ants shall have free access to such forest
1t has never been the de-
sire of the commission to restrict the
developments of the reserves,
but on the contrary to provide for the
widest use of all their resources COM
patible with their preservation. During
its recent consideration of the Lacey
in congress it was repeatedly
urged that the commission had acted |
upon meager knowledge of the matter,
but this is a mistake. The commission
ers were competent men and fully in
vestigated the subject by personal visits
and study.
AS the sundry civil appropriation bill
failed to pass during the last days of
the Fifty fourth congress it must be
passed by the Fifty fifth congress before |
July 1, and the forest reserves clause is
sure to provoke a good deal of discus
sion.
Farms Rated Too High.
Speaking of forestry reminds me that
local taxation as affecting farms has
been given renewed interest as the re- |
suit of an investigation made by the |
agricultural department.. In 1895 ex-
perts personally visited more than 1, 900 |
farms, selecting the extreme eastern and |
western sections of the state of New |
York. They obtained from the owner of |
for CT % f1,o