Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1908-05-21


Iui Development or our natural resources,
Wnetner that waste is caused by the actual
obstruction OF such resources or by making
them impossible OF development hereafter.
Duty to Next Generation.
Any right thinking father earnestly de-
slres and strives TO leave his son both an
untarnished name and a reasonable equip
menl Tor the struggle of life. SO this
nation as a whole should earnestly desire
ana strive to leave TO the next generation
the national honor unstained and the ma
tional resources unexhausted. There are
signs that both the nation and the States
are waking to a realization Of this great
truth
On March 10, 1908. the Supreme Court
OF Maine rendered an exceedingly important
judicial decision
This opinion was rendered in response
10 questions as to the right of the leg1s-
lature to restrict the cutting of trees on
private land for the prevention of droughts
ana FOODS, the preservation of the natural
water supply, and the prevention Of the
erosion of such lands, and the consequent
ming T5 up OF rivers, ponds, and lakes.
Inc forests and water power of Maine
constitute the larger part of her wealth
and form the basis of her industrial life,
ana the question submitted by the Maine
senate to the Supreme Court and the an
swer OF the Supreme Court alike bear tes-
Imony to the wisdom of the people Of
Maine. and clearly define a policy of con-
servation of natural resources, the adop-
ton OF which is of vital Importance not
merely to Maine but to the whole coun-
try.
Such a policy will preserve soil, for
ests, water power as a heritage for the
children and the children's children of the
men and women of this generation; for any
enactment that provides for the wise utiliza-
non OF the forests, whether In public or
private ownership, and for the conserva-
ton OF the water resources of the country,
must necessarily be legislation that will
promote both private and public welfare;
for flood prevention, water power develop
ment, preservation of the soil, and improve
ment of nayigable rivers are all promoted
by such policy of forest conservation.
Community First.
The opinion of the Maine Supreme bench
sets forth unequivocally the principle that
the property rights of the individual are
subordinate to the rights of the commun-
ity, and especially that the waste of wild
timber land derived originally from the
State, involving as i. would the impover-
ishment of the State and its people and
thereby defeating one great purpose of gov
eminent. may properly be prevented by
State restrictions.
The court says that there are two rea-
sons why the right of the public to control
and limit the use of private property is
peculiarly applicable to property in land
First, such property Is not the result
from the State itself. the original owner;
second the amount of land being incapable
of increase, if the owners of large tracts
can waste them at will without State re-
striction, the State and its people may be
helplessly impoverished and one great pur-
pose of government defeated.
1--WE do not think proposed legislation
would operate to take private property
within the inhibition of the constitution
while it might restrict the owner of
wild and uncultivated lands in his use Of
them, might delay his taking some of the
product. might delay his anticipated profits
and even thereby might cause him some
loss of profit it would nevertheless leave
him his lands their product and increase.
untouched, and without diminution of title,
estate, or quantity.
''He would still have large measure of
control and large opportunity to realize
values. He might suffer delay but not
deprivation.
1.-THE proposed legislation would be with
in the legislative power and would not
operate as a taking of private property
for which compensation must be made
The Court of Errors and Appeals of
New Jersey has adopted a similar view,
which has recently been sustained by the
Supreme Court of the United States.
State Has Rights.
In delivering the opinion of the court
on April 6, 1908, Justice Holmes said
1.-The State as quasi-soveregn and rep
resentative of the interests of the public
has standing in court to protect the at
mosphere. the water, and the forests within
its territory, irrespective of the assent
dissent of the private owners of the land
most Immediately concerned.
1T appears to us that few public in
terests are more obvious, indisputable and
Independent of particular theory than the
interest of the public of a State to main
tain the rivers that are wholly within it
substantially undiminished except by such
drafts upon them as the guardian of the
public welfare may permit for the purpose
of turning them TO a more perfect use.
"This public interest is omnpresent
wherever there is State, and grows more
pressing as population grows:
I'VE are of opinion. further, that the
constitutional power of the State to insist
that its natural advantages shall remain
unimpaired by its citizens Is not dependent
upon any nice estimate of the extent of
present use or speculation as to future
needs. b
THE legal conception of the necessary
is apt to be confined to somewhat rudi-
mentary wants. and there are benefits from
a great river that might escape a lawyers
view.
But the State is not required to submit
ever to an esthetic analysis.
Amy analysis may be inadequate. 1t
finds itself in possession of what all ad-
NIT to be a great public good. and what
it has it may keep and give no one reason
for its will
These decisions reach the root of the
idea of conservation of our resources in
the interests of our people.
Finally, let us remember that the con-
servation of our natural resources, though
the gravest problem of to-day, is yet but
part of another and greater problem to
which this nation is not yet awake. but to
which it will awake in time, and with
which it must hereafter grapple if it is to
Iive-the problem of national efficiency, the
patriotic duty of insuring the safety and
continuance of the nation.
When the people of the United States
consciously undertake to raise themselves
as citizens. and the nation and the States
in their several spheres to the highest
pitch of excellence in private, State, and
national life, and to do this because it is
the first of all the duties of true patriotism,
then and not till then the future of this
nation, in quality and in time, will be as
sured.