The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-06-11

forage on the public domain which
 amounts to putting premium on its | destruction.
 Tn 1891 congress authorized the
 President to create national forests in the public domain. These forest re- serves remained for long time in
 charge of the general land office,
 which had no men properly trained in
 forestry But another department,
 that of agriculture, possessed the
 trained men. Tn other words the gov- i ernment forests were without foresters
 and the government foresters without
 forests. Waste of effort and waste of forests inevitably followed. Finally the situation was ended in 1905 by the cre- ation of the United States forest ser vice, which has stopped the waste, conserved the resources of the national forests, and made them useful; so that
 our forests are now being managed on
 a coherent plan, and in way that au- gurs well for the future.
 Government Ownership of Coal. President Roosevelt has advanced ideas of the danger of private coal ownership. He said upon that point.
 The mineral fuels of the eastern United States have already passed into the hands of large private owners, and . these of the west are rapidly following. This should not be-, for such mineral resources belong in a peculiar degree
 to the whole people. Under private con- trol there is much waste from short- sighted methods of working, and the complete utilization is often sacrificed for a greater immediate profit The mineral fuels under our present condi- tions are as essential to our prosperity as the forests will always be- The Aif- ference is that the supply Is definitely limited, for coal does not grow and trees do. It is obvious that the mineral fuels should be conserved not wasted, and that enough of them should re- main in the hands of the government to protect the people against unjust or extortionate prices so far as that can still be done.
 What has been accomplished in the regulation of the great oil fields of the Indian Territory offers striking ex- ample of the good results of such a policy Last summer, accordingly, withdrew most of the coal -bearing pub- lie lands temporarily from disposal, and asked for the legislation necessary to protect the public interest by the con servation of the mineral fuels; that is, for the power to keep the fee in the government and to lease the coal, oil, and gas rights under proper regula- tion. No such legislation was passed, but I still hope that we shall ultimate ly get It.
 Tn addition to treating aright for the benefit of all the people the great stretches of public domain, some three hundred million acres in all, which are unfit for cultivation by present meth ods and valuable only for the forage which they supply This vast area is now open to the free grazing of cattle, sheep, hol ses, and goats, without re- striction or regulation. When popula- tion has increased as is now the case, such utter lack of management means that the public domain is turned over to be skinned by men whose only con- cern is to get what they can out of It at the moment, without any regard to whether or not 1t is ruined so far as the next generation Is concerned
 'The only practical remedy is to give control of the range to the Federal government. Such control would not only stop all conflict but would con- serve the forage without stopping it's use, as our experience with the nation al forests has fully proved"
 President Roosevelt laid equal stress upon the importance of making the greatest possible development of our waterways to meet the demands grow ing out of the inability of the railroads of the United States to meet the de- mands upon them. Even such ques- tions as the regulation of railway rates and the control of corporations are in reality subsidiary to the primal prob lem of the preservation in the interests of the whole people of the resources that nature has given us. If we fail t3 solve this problem no skill in solv- ing the others will in the end avail us very greatly"
 Income and Inheritance Tax.
 President Roosevelt strongly urged an income tax and an inheritance tax. He is not daunted by the attitude of