, 1907-02-05

by the people of the country as posi-
BILE. instead OF making II difficult for
them to utilize those products by vex-
atious rules and regulations. Mr..
Chairman, not only do We pay as high
as s. n thousand stumpage for lead
and live hemlock and jack pine in my
state, where the most eXacting private
individual would consider himself for
dollars stumpage on his timber, but
in addition the forestry service enforces
a policy as TO cutting, piling and burn
ing brush and chips and pine needles
that raises the cost of lumber from one
to two m a half dollars n thousand.
Day after day and month after month
these requirements are more stringent.
more difficult to comply with, until on
one reserve in my state the operator
paying IS a thousand for the timber
must cut every top ana lop into sticks
not to exceed 4 to 6 feet in length;
must pile them at Z given angle at GER
tain fixed intervals, to suit the aesthet-
ic taste of the forest officer.
A logging crew in Maine or Mime
sofa or Wisconsin go forth armed with
spr.s and axes and can hooks and
such implements of industry. In my
country. under the new regime. they
go forth armed with garden rakes and
pitchforks, for the purpose of cleaning
up chips and pine needles and leaving
the rugged mountain forest, hundreds
of miles from railroads and the near
kept as the lawns of the capital. 1t Is
very lovely We're it not a ridiculous
and sinful waste of energy and money.
This, | say, is the inevitable tendency
of paternalism, of bureaucracy. Each
and every inspector who goes to that
particular cutting on his way to the
national park to view the geysers finds
1t necessary to demand of the operator
something not required by his prede-
cessor, in order that he may, f%orsooth,
earn his salary and retain his position
in the service. Now, Mr.. Chairman, |
do not intend a general and whole
sale criticism of the forest service. |
have the highest regard and respect for
the gentleman at the head of that SER
vice and believe the force generally is
,,gtLf,1 srI AfHrtnnt hn1inuh that
in the main they are administering
these reserves in a fair n reason
able way, but what | nave said Illus.
trates the tendency of this sort of
thing, the inevitable effect of bureau
cratic government, anu 1t will require
all the good Judgment of the gentlemen
responsible for the forest service to
the faults and abuses which
have already resulted from the efforts
of ambitious men to advance them
selves in the service and make a repu-
tation by using their authority to OPP
press by ridiculous and unfair regula-
ton and by wringing from the neces-
sites or the people the last penny pos
sible and to prevent the development
of this tendency in the future. And
still we see on the other side of the
chamber gallent gentlemen, claiming
to uphold the principles Of Jefferson
ian democracy, jealous of the rights
of their states and localities, demand
ing that the national government shall
further in this career of centraliza-
ton, Of ~paternalism, and socialism,
and bureaucracy, and buy from specu-
lative owners in their mountains some
worthless lands in order to establish
federal control, where the authority of
the state, according to their doctrine,
should be supreme. (Applause.)
STATE PRESS