The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1907-12-05

the government has been C~ndeNvurilag
Ia get people 70 look ahead and
ID substitute a planned and orderly
development of our resources in place
OF a haphazard striving for immediate
profit.
our great river systems should be de-
ycloned as national water highways; /:
the Mississippi, with It's tributaries, +:
standing first la importance. and the (:
Columbia second. although there are >
manly others of Importance on the Pa |:
ciiic, the Atlantic and the gulf slopes. I:
The rational government should UNDER {:
take this work. and l hope a beginning (:
VIII lie made In the present congress; :!
and the greatest OF all our rivers, the (:
Mississippi, should receive especial at {:
tentiOu #.. /:
~. .,..s r.....r..
IRON the great lakes TO the mouth OF
the Mississippi there should be a deep
water way, with deep waterways leading
from n to the east and the west. Such q
waterway would practically mean the eX-
tension of our coast line into the very
heart OF our country. The government
dams should be used TO produce hundreds
III thousands of horsepower AS an incl
lent 10 improving navigation: for the an
nua value of the unused water power OF
che United States perhaps exceeds the an
nual value OF the products of all our
mines. As an incident 10 creating the deep
gaisrway DOWN TIE Mississippi, the goxe
VA Aii~tAN "AASNlE@ NA"'L - 49, "1.SAS
lower length leVees which taken together
with the control of the hcadwaters, will
at once and forever put a completes stop
10 all threat OF foods In the immensely
iertile Delta region. | have appointed an
inland waterways commission to study
and outline n comprehensive scheme of
development along all the lines Indicated.
later 4 shall lay It's report before the
congress, ..U
Irrigation should be far more extensively
developed than at present, not only In the
states OF the great plains and the Rocky
mountains, but In many others, as. for
instance, In large portions Of the south
Atlantic and gulf states. where II should
90 hand in hand with the reclamation Of
swamp a
Public Lands. a,
The land law system which was de-
signed TO meet the needs OF the fertile and
w~eil-watered regions Of the middle. west
has largely broken dow when applied to
the dryer regions or the great plains, the
mountains, and much OF the Pacific slope,
where a farm of 1O acres Is inadequate
FOR s~elf-support. In these regions the syS.
tenn lent itself to fraud, and much land
passed out OF the hands of the govern
ment without passing into the hands OF
tho home-maker.
Some such legislation as that proposed
81 essential in order to preserve the great
stretches of public grazing land which
@stS Saht a fST a %GSiti VaiasSle u ooIg pr Rgsse eRs
forage which they. supply. These
stretches amount in all to Some sOO.OOO,OO D
acres. and are open to the free grazing Of
cattle, sheep. horses and goats, without
restriction. Such a system, or rather
snch lack OF system, means hat the
range Is not, so much used as wasted by
abuse. AS the west settles the range be-
comes more and more over-grazed. Muck
of 1t eau not be used 10 advantage unless
4 IS fenced. for fencing y the only way
nomad hocks which roam htther and
thIttler utterly destroying the pastures
and leaving a waste pehind so that their
enc of home-makerS. The existing
fences are all Illegal,
: The unlawful fencing Of public lands :
for private grazing must be stopped but {:
/: the necessity which occasloned II must /:
:ment should nave control Of the /:
range. whether by permit or lease. as /:
: local necessities may determine. Such :
Of legitimate fencing, while at the {:
same time securing and promoting the :
: settlement OF the country. In some =:
: places IL may be that the tracts OF -:
/: range adjacent to the homesteads of /:
actual settlers should be allotted TO 4:
them sevefally or in common for the :
summer grazing Of their stock. Else \:
{: where 1t may be tina a lease system d.:
would serve the purpose; the leases to :
be temporary and subject to the rights :
OF settlement, n the amount charged :
: being large enough merely to permit /:
{: of the efficient and beneficial control {:
: OF the range by the government, and :
equivalent Of what 1t would otherwise {:
: receive in taxes. z ... f:
The destruction OF the public ang will
continue until some such laws as these
are enacted. Fully TO prevent the fraud
joint action OF the interior department.
and the department of justice, we have
been e~ndeayorlng to prevent. there
s1ficient APPROPRIATION to permit the de-
partment or the interior to anil GER
tain classes OF entries on the ground be-
fore they pass into private ownership.
M orests.
We have made q beginning on IN
Is the fourth greatest industry
made u beginnIng in forest preservation,
hui 1t Is only a beginning. AT present
numbering Is the fourth greatest industry
IN the United States; and yet, so rapid
has been the rate Of exhaustion of tim,
her la the United States In the past, and
% rapidly is the remainder being ex-
hausted, that the country Is unQuestion-
abby on the verge of IA timber famine
the land. There has already been a rise
10 the price of lumber. but there Is GER
cain 10 be IA more rapid and heavier rise
in the future.
: The present annual consumption or {:
sIumber Is certainly three times as great {:
3 the annual growth, and II the con I:
sumption and growth continue un- /:
:~'clanged, practically all our lumber will I:
Do exhausted In another generation, {:
awhile long before the limit to COM Z.
/: plete exhaustion Is reached the grow |:
Ing scarcity will make itself felt In !:
many blight!ng ways upon our national !:
welfare. /:
{:
About 20 per cent, Of our forested terri
tory is now reserved In national forests;
but these do not include the most valuable
timber lands and In. any event the pro-
portion Is TOO mail to expect that the
reserves can accomplish more than a mtti-
gallon of the trouble which Is ahead for
the nation. Far more drastic action IL
eeded Forests can be numbered so as
TO give to the public the full use of their
mercantile timber without the slightest
detriment to the forest. any more than 1t