Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1907-12-05

the settlement of the country. .Ae
destruction of the public range will
continue until some such laws as
these are enacted. Fully to prevent
the fraud in the public lands which
through the joint action of the inte-
rior department and the department
of justice, we have been endeavoring
to prevent there must be further leg
islation, and especially sufficient ap-
preparation to permit the department
of the interior to examine certain
classes of entries on the ground be.
fore they pass into private ownership
The government should part with its
title only to the actual homemaker
not ga the proft-maker who does not
care 10 make home Our prime Cd
ject Il to =, secure the rights and
guard the interests of the small ranch
man, the man who plows and pitc,.es
hay for himself
The preservation or replacement of
the forests is one of the most impor-
tant means of preventing this loss
We have made beginning in forest
preservation, but it is only a begin.
ming. AT present numbering is the
fourth greatest industry in the United
States; and yet, so rapid has been
the rate of exhaustion of timber in
the United States in the past, and so
rapidly is the remainder being ex-
hausted, that the country is unuues-
tionably on the verge of a timber fam
inc which will ne felt in every house
hold in the land. There has already
been rise in the price of lumber.
but there is certain to be a more
rapid and heavier rise in the future.
The present annual CONSUMPTION of
lumber is certainly three times as
great as the annual growth; and if
the consumption and growth continue
unchanged, practically all our lumber
will be exhausted in another genera
ton, while long before the limit to
complete exhaustion IS reached the
growing scarcity will make itSols e~'t
in many blighting ways upon our ma
tional welfare. About twenty per
cent Of our forested territory is now
reserved in national forests; but these
do not include tue most valuable tim
Der lands, and in any event the pro-
portion is too small to expect that the
reserves can accomplish more than
a mitigation of the trouble whic.. is
ahead for the nation. Far more dras-
tic action is needed. Forests can be
so as to give to the public the
full use of their mercantile timber
without the slightest detriment to the
forest any more than it is a detri.
ment to farm to furnish a harvest:
So that there is no parallel between
forests and mines, which can only be
completely used by exhaustion.
All the forest lands possible should
be acquired Tor the use of the nation.
These lands, because they form ma
tonal asset, are as emphatically ma
tonal as the rivers which they feed.
Tariff on Wood Pulp.
There should be no tariff On any
forest product grown in this country;
and, in especial, there should be no
tariff on wood pulp; due notice of the
change being of course given to
those engaged in the business so as
TO enable them to adjust themselves
TO the new conditions. The repeal
of the duty on wood pulp should if
/ tssible he accompanied by an agree
ment with Canada that there shall
no nYnDrf INF
wood.
Mineral Lands.
In the eastern United States the
mineral fuels have already passed
into the hands of large private own
ers. and those of the west are rapidly
following. 1t is obvious that these
fuels should be conserved and not
wasted, and it would be well to pro
tect the people against unjust and
extortionate prices, SO far as that can
still be done. What has been accom-
plished in the great OIL fields of the
Indian Territory by the action of the
offers a striking ex-
fmple OF the good results of such a
policy. The government should have
the right 10 keep the fee of the coal,
oil. and gas fields in its own posses
sion and to lease the rights to develop
them under proper regulations.
The Panama Canal.
Work on the Panama canal is pro.
ceeding In highly satisfactory man
ner.
Postal Affairs.
The presiden. commends to the ia
vorable consideration of the congress
postal savings bank system and for
ar extension o. the parcel post, es-
Iecially On the riIrai routes. There
ere now 3S,215 rural routes serving
nearly 100000 people who do not
have the advantages Of the inhaoi-
tants OF cities Of obtaining their sup
plies. These recommendations have
been drawn up to benefit the farmer
and the country storekeeper; other.
wise, he says he should not favor
them. 1t is desirable that the country