Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1907-12-11

would be Of incalculable beneft to our
people. II begun at once it can bel
carried through In time appreciabiy
to relieve the congestion of our great
freight-carrying lines of railroads.
The work should be Systematically
and continuously carried forward N
accordance with some well-conceivedI
plan. The main streams should be i'm
proved to the highest point OF effi-
cheney before the improvement of the
branches is attempted. The inland
waterways which lie just back of the
whole eastern and southern coasts
should likewise be developed. More
over, the development of our waterways
involves many other important water
problems, all Of which should be con-
sidered as part of the same general
scheme. The government dams
should be used to produce hundreds Of
thousands OF horsepower as an Incl
dent to improving navigation; for the
annual value of the unused water
power OF the United States perhaps
exceeds the annual value of the pro
ucts of all cur mines. AS an incl
dent to creating the deep waterway
down the Mississippi, the government
should build along its whole lower
length levees which taken together
with the control of the headwaters,
will at once and forever put a com
plete stop to all threat of foods in the
immensely fertile delta region.
Reclamation Work.
Irrigation should be far more ex
tensively developed than at present
not only in the states of the great
plains and tn Rocky mountains, but
| in many others, as, for instance
large portions Of the south Atlantic
and gulf states, where it should &C
hand in hand with the reclamation Of
swamp land. The federal government
should seriously devote itself to this
task, realizing that utilizat on of wat
terways and water-power, forestry, irri
cation and the reclamation OF lands
threatened with overflow, are all in
! terdependent parts of the same prob
lem.
Public Lands.
/ The effort of the government tt
deal with the public land has ueeI
based upon the same principle a.
that of the reclamation service. The
land law system which was designed
to meet the needs of the fertile ant
well-watered reg. ons of the middle
west has Largely broken -own wheI
applied to the dryer regions of thu
great plains, the mountains, and muci
of he Pacific slope, where farm o
100 acres is inadequate for self-sup
port In these regions the system len
itself to fraud, and much land passed
out of the hands of the government
without passing into the hands of thu
homelmaker. The department of thu
;. interior and the department of justic'
! joined in prosecuting tn offenders
!, against the law; and they have accom-
plished much, while where the ad
ministration of the law has been de
! fective it has been changed.
Some legislation is essential il
! order to preserve the great street.-the:
of public grazing land which a. e unfi
for cultivation under present methods
/, and are valuable only for the forage
which they supply. These stretches
amount in all to some S0O,00o,O0(
acres, and are open to the free graz
ing of cattle, sheep, horses and goats
: without restriction. Such system
or rather such lack of system, means
that the range is not so much usec
as wasted by abuse. AS the west set
ties the range becomes more ane
more over-grazed. Much of it can no
be used to advantage unless 1t Il
4 fenced, for fencing is the only way b.
: which to keep in check the owners
of nomad flocks which roam hitnei
and thither, utterly destroying th'
pastures and leaving waste benlnf
so that their presence is incompatible
with the presence Of homemakers
The existing fences are all inegal
i All these fences, those that are hurt
! full and those that are beneficial, are
! alike illegal and must come down
! But it is an outrage that the Law
should necessitate such action on tnt
I part of the administration. The un
lawful fencing of public lands for pr
yate grazing must be stopped, but the
4 necessity which occasioned it must be
provided for. The federal govern
ment should have control of the
range, whether by permit or lease, al
local necessities may determine
Such control could secure the grea
benefit of legitimate fencing, WINE a
the same time securing and promoting
the settlement of the country. A4At
destruction of the public range vii
4 continue until some such laws a.
/ these are enacted. Fully to prevent
the fraud in the public lands which
through the joint action of the int
rior department and the department
of Justice, we have been endeavorine
to prevenx, there must be further leg
\ islation, and especially a sufficient ap
preparation to permit the department
/ of the interior to examine certain
i 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 to the profit-maker who does moi