The semi-weekly messenger., 1907-12-06

utterly destroying the pastures and
leaving a waste behind SO that their
presence is Incompatible with the
presence OF home-seekers. The exist
ing fences are all illegal Some Cf
them represent the improper exclusion
OF actual settlers, actual home-maker3,
from territory which is Usurped by
great cattle companies. Some of them
represent what is in itself a proper
effort TO use the range for those upon
the land, and to prevent its use by
nomadic outsiders. All these fences,
those that arc hurtful and those that
are beneficial, are alike illegal and
must come down. But it is an out
rage that the law should necessitate
such action on the part of the admin
istration. The unlawful fencing Of
public lands for private grazing must
be stopped, but the necessity which
occasioned it must be provided for
The federal government should have
control of the range, whether by per
nit or lease. as local necessities may
determine. Such control could secure
81
while at the same time securing and
promoting the settlement of the coun-
try. In some places it may be that
the tracts of range adjacent to the
homesteads of actual settlers should
be allotted to them severally or in
common for the summer grazing Of
their stock. Elsewhere it may be that
bo
pose; the leases to be temporary and
subject to the rights of settlement,
and the amount charged being large
enough merely to permit Of the eff
cient and beneficial control of the
range by the government, and of the
payment to the county of the equiva-
lent of what it would otherwise re-
ceive in taxes. The destruction Of the
public range will continue until some
such laws as these are enacted. Fully
70 prevent the fraud in the public
lands which, through the joint action
of the interior department and the de-
partment of justice, we have been en-
deavoring to preven, there must be
further legislation, and especially
SllHClcHt 10 DHIIlft LII'
department of the interior to examine
certain classes of entries on the ground
before they pass into private owner
ship. The government should part
with it's title onlv TO tho actra1 home-
maker not to the nrOf1t-ma'Sor who
does not care to make a home Orr
prime object is to secure the rights
-
ranchman. the man who nlOws and
pitches hay for hin'self Tt is this
; small ranchman, this actual settler
and home-maker. who in the long run
! is most hurt bv permitting thefts
If tho public land in whatever form.
FORESTS.
Optimism is a good characteristic, but
if carried to all excess it become fool
ishness. We are prone to speak OF the
resources OF this country as inexhaus-
tible; this is not so. The mineral
wealth of the country, the coal, iron,
! gas, oil, and the like, does not repro
duce itself, and therefore is certain
to be exhausted ultimately; and waste
fulness in dealing with it today means
that our descendants will feel the ex-
! haustion a generation or two before
, they otherwise would. But there are
certain other forms of waste which
could be entirely StOpped-the waste
of soil, for instance, which is among
the most dangerous Of all wastes now
, in progress in the United States, is
easily preventable, so that this present
enormous loss of fertility is entirely
! unnecessary. The preservation or re-
placement of the forests is one of the
most important means of preventing
this loss. We have made a beginning
in forest preservation, but it 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 timber
in the United States in the past and
so rapidly is the remainder being ex-
hausted, that the country is unques-
tionably on the verge OF timber fam
inc which will be felt in every house
hold in the land. There has already
been a rise in the price of lumber,
DuC 1QSr0 Is ccktd!l US al IlOI Z ItpItl
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, prac-
tically all our mmbcr will be exhaust
ed in another generation, while long
before the limit to complete exhaus-
tion is reached the growing scarcity
will make itself felt in many blighting
ways upon our national welfare About
20 per cent of our forested territory
is now reserved in national forests:
but these do not include the most
valuable timber lands, and in any
event the proportion is too small to