Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1907-12-05

life or limb. can be effectively reached
any more than the evils of rebates and
stock watering can be reached without
good laws. To fail to stop these prac-
tees by legislation means to force
honest men into them, because other
wise the dishonest who surely Will
take advantage of them will have
everything their own way. If the states
Will correct these evils, well and good (;
but the nation must stand ready to aid
them.
Inland Waterway Systems
should BE Developed.
The conservation Of our national re-
sources and their proper use constitute
the fundamental problem which under
lies almost every other problem Of our
national life. We must maintain for
our civilization the adequate material
basis without which that civilization
cannot exist. We must show foresight
we must look ahead. AS a nation we
not only enjoy wonderful measure of
present prosperity but If this prosper
ity is used Alright 1t is an earnest of
future success such as no other nation
Will have. The reward OF foresight for
this nation is great and easily foretold
But there must be the look ahead
there must be a realization of the fact
that to waste. to destroy our natural
resources, to skin and exhaust the land
Ills ttdu OF uSlHB IL so as TO lilNTtdSt us
usefulness. will result in undermining
in the days of our children the very
prosperity which we ought by right to
hand down to them amplified and devel-
oped. For the last few years. through
several agencies, the government has
been endeavoring to get our people to
look ahead and to substitute a planned
and orderly development of our re-
sources in place of haphaZard striv-
ing for immediate profit. Our great
river systems should be developed as
national water highways; the Missis
Sippi. with it's tributaries, standing first
in Importance, and the Columbia sec
ond, although there are many others Of
importance on the Pacific and Atlantic
and the gulf slopes. The national gov
erUment should undertake this work,
and / hope beginning will be made
in the present congress; and the great
est OF all our rivers, the Mississippi,
should receive especial attention From
| the Great Lakes to the mouth of the
Mississippi there should be a deep wa
| tcrway, with deep waterways leading
from il to the east and the west. Such
a waterway would practically mean
| the extension Of our coast line into the
| very heart of our country. 1t would be
of incalculable benefit to our people If
begun at once it can be carried through
in time appreciably to relieve the con-
| gestion of our great freight carrying
| lines of railroads. The work should be
Systematically and continuously carried
| forward in accordance with some we'll
| conceived plan. The main streams
| should be improved to the highest
| point Of efficiency before the improve
ment Of the branches is attempted; and
| the work should be kept free from
| every taint of recklesSneSS or jobbery."
Attention is called to the work OF ir-
rigation and reclamation of govern
| ment lands. In the same connection he
| asks for a revision of the public land
| laws along the lines proposed by the
| public lands commission. Believes the
| government should increase it's efforts
| to conserve our forests and should in
| crease by purchase the existing forest
| preserves. on the subject OF the natural
| resources of the nation he says
I'm the eastern United States the
mineral fuels have already passed into
| the hands of large private owners, 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 protect the people against
unjust and eXtOrtionate prices. 50 far
| as that can still be done. What has
| been accomplished in the great oil
fields of the Indian Territory by the
! action Of the administration offers a
| striking example of the good results
! of such a policy. In my judgment the
government should have the right to
keep the fee of the coal, oil and gas
fields in it's own possession and to lease
the rights to develop them under
proper regulations; or else, if the con-
gress will not adopt this method, the
coal deposits should be sold under lin
itations. to conserve them as public
utilities, the right to mine coal being
separated from the title to the soil
The regulations should permit coal
lands to be worked in sufficient guam
tity by the several corporations. The
present limitations have been absurd
excessive and serve no useful purpose
and often render it necessary that
there should be either fraud or else
abandonment OF the work of getting
out the coal"