Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1905-08-05
NATION s FOREST
RESERVE POLICY.
Senator Hepburn SAYS lie Pro-
poses to Carry the Question
Into Congress
EXPERT GIVES HIS OPINION.
ldahos Heavy Business ID State
Lands--Ble Creek Wagon Road
Completed.
Nneolsl corfosnondence.

Vpecle' Correspondence
~ 81 sc, IDAHO. Aug. 4.--The forest
~ reserve policy Of the general gov
ID eminent. so far as Idooo ia com
cerned, is apparently but little
understood. by the people at large In
this state There Is a general feeling
OF antagonism when % is known that
the reserves at present comprise more
than % per cent Of the total area, and
that much Of this land would be In I'M
mediate demand for homes n the re-
serves were not closed to settlement
The position of opposition, occupied by
the governor and other members OF the
administration is not clearly under-
stood Gov. GOodiug 3 not opposed To-
nhe preservation OF The forests or the
conservation Of the water sheds, but
only desires that wherever a. settler
could and would make a home that the
opportunity shall ha letL open TO him.
The recent settlement of Senator
Hepburn that he expected to carry
the question of tie establishment Of
excessive reserves lu Idaho into Con-
productive OF some good, IL no more
than TO commence the education of the
people as to methods by which forest
reserves are established and the under
lying reasons why their establishment
IS regarded as valuable and necessary
by the selfish advocates Of this gov
ernmental policy A recent statement
by public man relative To this matter
is Of sufficient Importance 70 deserve
publication as the opinion OF am eX-
pert who is In q position TO know the
truth. He says
EXPERTS OPINION.
I'm the drst place bat few II any Of
the forest reserves established under
the authority of the interior depart
ment. but what The boundaries em-
brace large Grea of public land
grants. which Is particularly true of
the reserves established along the lines
of the Northern Pacific Railway COM
pany 4 regulation Intended for the
benefit OF the land owners having
holdings In forest reserves would per-
init them to retain so much Of their
lands as might be- necessary for their
use. and reiiuquish the balance TO the
government, accepting therefor the
right to make lieu selections elsewhere
has proved 10 be n Yerlt1ble legal graft
for the owners OF worthless land who
could induce the government, through
themselves or Innocent petitioners, to
include the same I'm forest reserves.
In this way the Northern Pacific Rail-
way company has been enabled TO So
cure immense values from an immense
land grant. which was primarily made
immense because OF the general worth
1essness Of the whole II lieu selec-
tons could only have been made In
the state where granted, the result
would not have been SO serious In Ida
no since IL had only two forest re-
nerves within its borders until very
recently
SCRIP INTERESTS ACTIVE
while the forest reserve people Of
the interior department were keeping
out Of Idaho. however the scrip In
terests based on the worthless lands "
other states were getting I'm so that
when the recent forest reserves exc
tensions occurred within our borders
the scrip timber and stock interests
had already secured control Of almost
every stream now In the forest re-
serves which Is capable OF floating a
eawlog, thus securing TO these inter-
ests very rhean stumpage Of their own
time and practically without competi-
tion. The government now protests
these interests by Keeping fires down,
aud an but the favored livestock are
excluded from the reserve. Moreover
the legal steps looking to patent of
scrip lands am informed,
nre suspended by the for
est reserve act itself thus
denying 70 the state a vast taxable re-
source, and stlll permitting a tentative
ownership 10 the scrip holder II has
also suspended the common schools In
terests I'm sections 10 and 30 without
granting II the common privilege acc
corded other holdings On forest re-
serves--the right OF retaining the vail
liable subdivisions Of lands and making
lien selections fer the worthless ones
LANDS EXCLUDED,
mot only the states Interest IN SER
tions l6 and 90 h excluded from the
reserve. but also AN OF the governors
applications for surveys (which fall
within their boundaries, and out ot
which 1t was proposed TO make sclec-