The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-12-03

serve the great stretches OF PUBIC
grazing land which are unfit for Gull
ovation under present methods and
are valuable only for the forage which
they supply. These stretches amount
In al, 10 some 300,000.0u0 acres, and
are open to the free grazing of cattle
sneep, horses and goats. without re-
str1ct1on. Such a system, or. rather
such lack of system. means that the
range Is not so much used as wasted
by abuse. As the west settles the range
become more and more over-grazed.
Much of it can not be used to adyan-
the only way by which to keep in
check the owners of nomad f1ocks
which roam hither and thither, utterly
destroying the pastures and leaving a
waste behind so that their presence is
incompatible with the presence of
home-makers. The existing fences are
all illegal. Some of them represent the
improper exclusion of actual settlers,
actual home-makers. from territory
which is usurDed by great cattle COM
panies. Some of them represent what
is in itself a proper effort to use the
range for those upon the land, and
to prevent it's use by nomadic out
siders. All these fences. those that
are hurtful and those that are bene-
fetal, are alike illegal and must come
down. But it is an outrage that the
law should necessitate such action on
the part of the administration. 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 permit or lease,
as local necessities may determine.
Such control could secure the great
benefit of legitimate fencing, while at
ing the settlement Of the country. In
some places it may be that the
tracts of range adjacent to the home
steads of actual settlers should be
allotted to them severally or in COM
mon for the summer grazing of their
stock. Elsewhere it may be that
lease system would serve the pur-
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
Gent and beneficial control 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
to prevent the fraud in the public
lands which, through the joint ac-
ton of the interior department and
the department of justice, we have
been endeavoring to prevent, there
must be further legislation, and es-
permit the department of the inter-
ior to examine certain classes of en-
tries on the ground before they pass
into private ownership. The govern
ment should part with it's title only to
the actual home-maker; not to the
who does not care to
make home. Our prime object is to
secure the rights and guard the in
terests of the small ranchman. the
man who olows and pitches hay for
himself. 1t is this small ranchman,
this actual settler and home-maker,
permitting thefts of the public land in
whatever form.
Preservation of Forests.
Optimism is a good characteristic,
out if carriad to an excess it becomes
,oohshness.f We are prone to speak
IF the resources of this country as
this is not so. The |
mineral wealth of the country. the
coal, iron, oil, gas. and the like, does |
lot reproduce itself. and therefore is
certain to be exhausted ultimately; |
md wastefulness in dealing with it
oday means that our descendants will |
EEL the exhaustion a generation or |
wo before they otherwise would. But I
here are certain other forms of waste |
which could be entirely stopped-the |
waste of soil by washing. for instance, |
which is among the most dangerous |
# all wastes now in progress in the
United States, is easily preventable,
% that this present enormous loss
# fertility is entirely unnecessary. The
preservation or replacement of the
orests is ona of the most important
means of preventing this loss. We
lave made beginning in forest pre-
ervation, but it is only a beginning.
At present numbering is the fourth
,reatest industry in the United States;
nd yet, rapid has been the rate of |
exhaustion of timber in the United
tates in the past and SO rapidly is
he remainder being exhausted, that
he country is unquestionably on the
erge of timber famine which will
e felt in every household in the land.
here has already been a rise in the
rice of lumber but there is certain to
e a more rapid and heavier rise in
he future. The present annual con-
of lumber is certainly three
ines as great as the annual growth;
nd If the consumption and growth
ontinue' unchanged, practically all
ur lumber will be exhausted in an
Their generation, while long before
he limit to complete exhaustion is
cached the growing scarcity will
1ake itself felt in many blighting
rays upon our national welfare. About
0 per cent of our forested territory is
ow reserved in national forests; but
nese DC not include the most val
able timber lands. and in any event
he proportion is too small to expect
nat the reserves can accomplish
lore than a mitigation of the trouble
hich is ahead of the nation. r..-
Far more drastic action is needed.
orests can be numbered so as to give
the public the full use of their mer-
antile timbar without the slightest
etrment to the forest. any more
IAN it is detriment to a farm to fur
ish a harvest; so that there is no
al bet nd |
hich can only be co1np-etely used by ,
xhaustion. But forests. If used as all y
ur forests have been used in the
asst and as most of them are still ,