Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1904-12-09

consonance with the plainest dictates OF
good administration and common sense.
I The present arrangement is bad from
evarv nnint of view. Merely to mention
1t --ove that 1t should be terminal
ed a AS have repeatedly recon-
mended, all the forest work of the gov
eminent should be concentrated in the
4 department Of agriculture where the
larger part of that work is already done,
where practically all of the trained for
esters of the government are employed,
where chiefly in Washington there is
comprehensive first-hand knowledge of
the problems of the reserves acquired
on the ground, where all problems relat-
ing to growth from the soil are already
gathered, and whep- all the sciences
auxiliary to forestry are at hand for
prompt and effective cooperation These
reasons arc decisive in themselves, but it
should be added that the great organ;Za-
tons Of citizens whose interests af-
fected by the forest reserves, such the
r!ational Live Stock association, the Ma
tional Wool Growers association, the
American Mining Congress, the National
Irrigation Congress and the National Board
of Trade have uniformly, emphat.Cally.
and most of them repeatedly. expressed
themselves in favor of placing all gov
eernment. forest work in the department
of agriculture because of the peculiar
adaptation of that department for it. 1t
is true, also, that the forest services of
nearly all the great nations of the world
are under the respective departments of
agriculture while in but two of the small
nations and in colony they
under the department of the interior.
This is the result of long and varied ex-
perience and it agrees fully with the re-
QuirementS of good administration in our
own case
The creation of a forest service in the
department of agriculture will have for
its important results:
First. better handling of all forest
work because il will he under single
head, and because. the vast and ind:s-
pensable experience of the department
in all matters pertaining to the forest
reserves, to forestry in general and to
other forms of production from the soil,
will be easily and rapidly accessible.
Second. The reserves themselves, being
handled from the point of view of the
man in the field instead of the man in
the office will be easily and more
widely useful to the people of the west
than has been the case hitherto.
Third. Within a comparatively short
time the reserves will become self-sup-
porting. This is important, because
unually and rapidly increasing appropria-
tons will be necessary for the proper
care of this exceedingly important inter-
est of che nation, and they can and
should be offset by returns from the
tional forests. Under similar circum-
stances the forest possessions of other
great nations form an important source
of revenue to their governments.
Every administra tive officer concerned
Is convinced of the necessity for the pro-
posed consolidation of forest work in the
department of agriculture. and 1 myself
have urged it more than once in former
messages. Again 1 commend it to the
early and favorable consideration of the
congress- The interests of the nation at
large and of the west in particular have
suffered greatly because of the delay.
Public Lands.
1 call the attention of the congress
again to the report and recommendation
nf h.
forwarded by me to the second session
of the present congress The commission
has prosecuted its Investigations actively
during the past season. and a second
port is now in an advanced stage of
preparation.
In connection with the work of the for
est reserves 1 desire again to urge upon
the congress the import nce of authoriz-
ing the president to set aside certain por-
tons of these reserves or otner public
lands as game refugees for the preserva-
ton of the bison, the wapiti, and other
large beasts once so abundant in our
woods and mountains and great
plains, and now tending toward extinc-
ton. Every support should be given to
the authorities of the Yellowstone Park
In their successful efforts at preserving
the large creatures therein; and at very
little expense portions OF the public
domain in other regions which are wholly
unsuited to agricultural settlement could
be similarly utilized. We owe it to future
generations to keep alive the noble and
beautiful creatures which by their pres
ence add such distinctive character to the
American wilderness. The limits of the
Yellowstone Park should be extended
southwards. The canyon of the Colorado
should be made national park; and the
national park system should include the
Yosemite and as many as possible of the
groves of giant trees in California.
Pensions.
The veterans of the civil war have a
claim upon the nation such as no other
body of our citizens possess. The pen
sion bureau has never in its history been
managed in a more satisfactory manner
than is now the case.
Indians.
The progress of the Indians toward
civilization, though not rapid, is perhaps
all that could be hoped for in view of the
circumstances. Within the past year
many tribes have shown, in a degree
greater than ever before. an appreciate
of the necessity of work. This changed
attitude is in part due to the policy re-
Gently pursued of reducing the amount
of subsistence to the Indians. and thus
forcing them, through sheer necessity, to
work for livelihood. The policy, though
severe, is a useful one but 1t is to be
exercised only with Judgment and with
a full understanding of the conditions
which exist in each community for which
1t is intended On or near the Indian
. reservations there is usually very little
demand for labor. and If the Indians are
tosearn their living and when work can
not be furnished from outside (Which is
always preferably. then 1t must be fur
nished by the government. Practical in
struction of this kind would in a few
years result in the forming of habits of
regular industry, which would render the
Indian a producer and would effect a
great reduction in the cost of his main
tenance.
1t is commonly declared that the slow ad-
vance of the Indians is due to the unsatis-
factory character of the men appointed to
take immediate charge of them, and to
i, some extent this is true While the stand
ard of the employees in the Indian service
shows great improvement over that Of by