The Paducah evening sun. [volume] (Paducah, Ky.) 1906-1929, 1907-06-10
President Roosevelt Announce
es Principle Behind Some
of His Policies
STRIKES HOME TO THE PEOPLE
Forests. Fuel, Mineral Wealth and
Grazing Land Being Wasted BY
Selfish Interests.
OUR INTERNAL WATERWAYS

Norfolk Va, June 1O.-At the
National Editorial association held
here today President Roosevelt de-
Iivered an address, in part as fol-
lows:
1.-THE conversation of our natural
resources and their proper use con-
stitute the fundamental problem
which underlies almost every other
problem of our national life. Unless
We maintain an adequate material ba-
sis for our civilization, we can not
maintain the institutions in which we
take so great and so just a PRIDE
and to waste and destroy our natural
resources means to undermine this
material basis. During the last FIVE
years efforts have been made in sew
eral new directions in the govern
ment service to get our people to
look ahead. to exercise foresight. and
to substitute planned and orderly
development of our resources in the
place of haphazard striving for
profit The effort has been
made through several agencies.
I'm 1902 the reclamation service
began to develop the larger opportu-
mites of the western half of our
country for irrigation. The work in
cludes all the state from the great
plains through the Rock mountains
to the Pacific slope. Il has been con
Quoted with the clear and definite
purpose of using the valuable water
resources of the public land for the
greatest good for the greatest num-
Der in the long run; in other words.
for the purpose of putting upon the
land permanent home makers who
will use and develop it for themselves
and for their children and children's
children.
"The public lands of the United
States should be utilized In similar
fashion. Our present public land laws
were passed when there was a vast
surplus of vacant public land. The
chief desire was to secure settlers
thereon, and comparatively slight at
tention was paid as to exactly how
the lands were disposed of in detail.
In consequence, lax execution of the
laws became the rule both in the land
Office and in the public mind, and land
frauds were common and little noted.
This was especially true when a sys-
tenn originally designed for the fer
tile and well-watered regions of the
middle west was applied to the dryer
regions of the great plains and to the
mountains and the Pacific coast. In
these regions the system lent itself to
fraud, and much land passed out of
the hands of the government without
passing into the hands of the home
maker. The department of the inte-
rior and the department of justice
Joined in prosecuting the offenders
against the law; but both the law
and its administration we're defective
and needed to be changed. Three
years ago a public lands commission
was appointed to scrutinize the law
and the facts and to recommend a
remedy. Their examination spech-
cally showed the existence Of great
frauds upon the public domain and
their recommendations for changes
In the law were made with the design
of conserving the natural resources
of every part of the public land by
putting 1t to its best use. Attention
was especially called to the proven
ton of settlement by the passage of
great areas Of public lands into the
hands of few men, and to the enor-
nous waste caused by unrestricted
grazing on the open range; a sys-
tenn of using the natural forage on
the public domain which amounts to
putting a premium on its destruc-
ton. Congress has not yet acted on
these recommendations, except for
the repeal Of the iniquitous lieu-land
law.
National Forests.
"In 1891 congress authorized the
president to create national forests in
the public domain These. forest re-
serves remained for a long time in
charge of the general land once.
which had no men properly trained
in forestry. But another department,
that OF agriculture, possessed the
trained men. In other words. the gov
eminent forests were without forest
ers and the government forestera
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