The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1908-12-08

they have failed to grasp
the great underlying fact that every 4
stream is unit from its source TO its +
mouth and that all its uses are inter
dependent Prominent officers of the I
engineer corps have recently even gone
SO far as TO assert in print that wa
terways are not dependent upon the
of the forests about their
headwaters. This position is opposed
to all the recent work of the scientific
bureaus of the government and To the
general experience of mankind. \
physician who disbelieved In vaccina-
ton would not be the right man TO
handle an epidemic of smallpox. nor
should we leave Il doctor skeptical
about the transmission Of yellow fever
by the stegomyia mosquito in charge
of sanitation at Havana or Panama.
So with the Improvement of our riv-
ers. 1t is no longer wise or safe 10
leave this great work in the hands of
men who fail to grasp the essential
relations between navigation and gen
eral development and to assimflate and
use the central facts about our
streams.
Until the work of river improvement
is undertaken in a modern way il can
not have results that will meet the
needs of this modern nation. These
ne, dS should be met without further
dilly -dallying or delay. The plan which
promises the best and quickest results
is that of permanent commission au-
thorized TO coordinate the work of all
the government departments relating
to waterways and to frame and super
wise the execution of a comprehensive
plan. Under such commission the
actual work of construction might be-
intrusted to the reclamation service or
to the military engineers acting with
a sufficient number of civilians to con-
tinue the work in time OF war. or 1t
might be divided between the reclama-
ton service and the corps of engineers.
Funds should be provided from cur
rent revenues if it is deemed wise,
otherwise from the sale of bonds. The
essential thing is that the work should
go forward under the best possible
plan and with the least possible delay.
We should have a new type of work
and new organization for planning
with our waterways is past. The coun-
try demands results.
National Parks.
urge that all our national parks ad-
jacent to national forests be placed
completely under the control of the
forest service of the agricultural de-
partment. instead of leaving them, as
they are now, under the interior de-
partment and policed by the army.
The congress should provide for SUI
perintendents with adequate corps of
first class civilian scouts or rangers
and, further, place the road construc-
ton under the superintendent instead
of leaving it with the war department.
Such a change in park management
would result in economy and avoid the
difficulties of administration which
now arise from having the response
bility of care and protection divided
between different departments. The
need for this course is peculiarly great
| in the Yellowstone park. This, like the
Yosemite, is a great wonderland and
should be kept as national play
ground. In both all wild things should
be protected and the scenery kept
| wholly unmarried.
/ am happy to say that / have been
| able to set aside in various parts of
| the country small, well chosen tracts
of ground to serve as sanctuaries and
nurseries for wild creatures.
Denatured Alcohol.
1 had occasion in my message of
May 4, 1906, to urge the passage of
arts, industries and manufactures upon
the free list-that is, to provide for the
! withdrawal free of tax of alcohol
which is to be denatured for those
purposes. The law of June 6, 1906
i and it's amendment of March 2, 1907
| accomplished what was desired in that
| respect, and the use of denatured al
cohol as intended is making a fair de-
gree of progress and is entitled to fur.
I Their encouragement and support from
the congress.
Pure Food.
| The pure food legislation has already
worked a benefit difficult to overesti
mate.
/ Indian Service.
| 1t has been my purpose from the be
| ginning of my administration to take
the Indian service completely out OF
the atmosphere of political activity
and there has been steady progress to
ward that end. The last remaining
stronghold of politics in that service
was the agency system, which had
seen its best days and was gradually
falling to pieces from natural or pure
iy evolutionary causes, but, like al
such survivals, was decaying slowly
in its later stages. 1t seems clear thai
its extinction had better be made fina
now, so that the ground can be cleared
for larger constructive work on behalf
of the Indians preparatory to their in
duction into the full measure of re
sponsible citizenship. On Nov. 1 only
eighteen agencies were left on tn,
roster. With two exceptions, wher,
some legal questions seemed to stano
temporarily in the way, these hav,
been changed to superintendencies and
their heads brought into the classified
civil service
Secret Service.
Last year an amendment was incor
porated in the measure providing fol
the secret service which provided tina