The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1907-06-10

A
| So much for wnat | have to say tC
you in your capacity of molders ani
guides of public thought. In addition
/ want to speak to you on two great
movements in our public life which
| feel must necessarily occupy no il
considerable part of the time of our
public men in the near future One
of these is the question of, in certain
ways, reshaping our system of taxa.
tion SO as to make it bear most heav-
lily on those most capable of support
ing the strain. The other is the ques-
tion of utilizing the natural resources
of the nation in the way that will he
of most benefit to the nation as a
whole.
The Reclamation Service.
In 1902 the Reclamation Service be-
gan to develop the larger opportuli-
ties of the western half of our coun-
try for irrigation. The work includes
all the States from the Great Plains
through the Rocky Mountains to the
Pacific slope. 1t has been conducted
with the clear and definite purpose of
using the valuable water resources of
the public land for the greatest good
for the greatest number in the long
run; in other words. for the purpose
of putting upon the land permanent
nome makers VINO will use and devel-
Op it for themselves and for their
children and children's children
There has been opposition, of course,
to this work of the Reclamation Ser
vice; for we have been obliged to an
tagoniZe certain men whose interest
it was to exhaust for their own tenn
porary personal profit natural re-
sources which ought to be developed
through use. so as to be conserved for
the permanent common advantage
of the people as a whole. But there
will be no halt in the work of pre-
serving the waters which head in the
Rocky Mountain region so as to make
them of most use to the people as a
whole; for the policy is essential to
our national welfare.
Public Land Laws.
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
and comparatively slight at
tention was paid as to exactly how the
lands were disposed of in detail. In
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 system or
ginally designed for the fertile and |
well-watered regions of the Middle |
West was applied to the dryer regions |
IF the Great Plains and to the noun |
aims and the Pacific coast. In these
regions the system lent itself to fraud |
and much land passed out of the hands |
If the Government without passing IL
N tho hands nf 10 rf1aEnr he |
of the Interior and the
of Justice joined in prose
cuting the offenders against the law; 1
Dut botn the law and its administra-
ion were defective and needed to be
Three years ago a Public
lands Commission was appointed to
'crutizine the law and the facts and
o recommend a remedy. Their exam
nation specifically showed the exis-
elce of great frauds upon the public
iomain, and their recommendations
or changes in the law were made with
he design of conserving the natural
esources of every part of the public
and by putting it to its best use. At
entiol was especially called to the
of settlement by the pas
age of great areas of public lands in
o the hands of a few men, and to the
'normous waste caused by unrestTic-
ed grazing on the open range; a sys-
EN- of using the natural forage on
he public domain which amounts to
'utting a premium on its destruction.
Me recommendations of the Public
1ands Commission were sound. for
hey were especially in the interest of
ne actual home maker; and where
he small home maker could not util-
ze the land, ii was provided that the
government should keep control of it {
O that il could not be monopolized
" a few wealthy men. Congress
as not yet acted upon these recon-
nendations, except for the repeal of
he iniQuitous lieu-land law. But the
are so just and pro- !
er. so essential to our national vel
are, tnat l believe they will surely
be adopted.
II 1891 Congress authorized the :
resident to create national forests
4 the public domain. These forest
eserves remained for a long time in
barge of the General Land Office.
-hich had no men properly trained IN
ore5try. But another Department. &
nat of Agriculture, possessed the train I
d men. In other words, the Govern 6
rent forests were without foresters !
nd the Government foresters without
,rests. Waste of effort aid waste
Z forests inevitably followed F1nal-
: the situation was ended in 1905 by t
he creation of the United States For =
st Service, which has stopped the
aste. conserved the resources of the
ational forests. and made them use {
IL; so that our forests are now being
laaaged on a coherent plan. and in
way that augurs well for the future.
Saving Mineral Resources.
The mineral fuels of the eastern 4
nited States have already passed in F
the hands of large private owners, +
nd those of the West are rapidly fol-
wing. This should not be, for such
ineral resources belong IN a peculiar o
egree to the whole people. Under t
rivate control there is much waste Il
ON shortsighted methods of working n
nd the complete Utilization is often e
lcrifced for a greater immediate pro c
!. The mineral fuels under our pre-
mt conditions are as essential to our n
,osperity as the forests will always i.
:. The difference is that the supply
definitely limited for coal does not {