The San Francisco call., 1908-12-09

military establishment. The military
engineers have undoubtedly done eff
Client work in actual construction, but
they are necessarily unsuited by their
training and traditions to take the
broad view, and to gather and transmit
to the congress the commercial and in
dustrial information and forecasts, upon
which waterway improvement must
always so largely rest. Furthermore,
they have failed to grasp the great un-
derlying fact that every stream is a
unit from its source to its mouth, and
that all its uses are independent Prom
inent officers of the engineers corps
have recently even gone so far as to
assert in print that waterways are not
dependent upon the conservation of the
forests about their headwaters- This
position is opposed to all the recent
work of the scientific bureaus or the
government and to the general expe-
rience Of mankind A physician who
diSbelieved in vaccination would not be
the right man to handle an epidemic of
smallpox nor should we leave a doctor
skeptical about the transmission of
yellow fever by the Stegomyia mos
quito in charge of sanitation at Havana
or Panama. So with the Improvement
of our rivers; it is no longer wise or
hands of men who fail to grasp the
essential relations between navigation
and general development and to- as
simulate and use the central facts about
our streams
Until the work of river Improvement
is undertaken in a modern way it can
not have results
= that will meet the
River Improve needs of this mod
ment Work Must ern nation. These
Be Carried Forth needs should be
met withou t
further dilly dallying or delay. The
plan which promises the best and
quickest results is that of permanent
commission authorized to coordinate
the work of all the government de-
partmentS relating to waterways, and
to frame and supervise the execution
of a comprehensive plan. Under such
a commission the actual work of con-
struction might be entrusted to the
reclamation service; or to the military
engineers acting with a sufficient num-
ber of civilians to continue the work
in time of war; or it might be divided
between the reclamation service and
the corps of engineers. Funds should
be provided from current revenues II
ii 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 organ
zation for planning and directing it,
The time for playing with our water
ways is past. The country demands
results.
/ urge that all our national parks
adjacent to national forests be placed
forest service of the agricultural de-
partment. instead of leaving them, as
they now are, under the interior de-
partment and policed by the army
The congress should provide for super
intendents with adequate corps of first
class civilian scouts or rangers. and
further, place. the road construction
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 the responsibility of
care and protection divided between
different departments. The need for
this course is peculiarly great in
Yellowstone park. This, like Yosemite
is a great wonderland and should be
kept as a national playground. 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 sanetuaries and
nurseries for wild creatures.
had occasion in my message of
May a. 1906, to urge the. passage of
8 alcohol used in
Denatured Aicohoi the arts. indus
Legislation Hns tries and manu-
Done Good factures upon the
-.----------- free list: that is
to provide for the withdrawal free
Of tax of alcohol which is to be de-
June 7. 1906 and its amendment of
March 2. 1907, accomplished what was
desired in that respect, and the use of
denatured alcohol. IS intended is max
ing a fair degree of progress and is
entitled to further encouragement and
support from the congress
The pure food legislation has already
worked benefit diff1cult to overesti-
mate.
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
toward 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 purely
evolutionary causes. but, like all such
suryivals. was decaying slowly in its
Ia ter stages 1t seems clear that its
extinction had better be made final
now SO that the ground can be cleared
for larger constructive work on behalf
of the Indians preparatory to their
responsible citizenship. On November /
only is agencies were left on the
roster; with two exceptions. where
some legal questions seemed to stand
ter1norarily in the way these have
been changed to superintendencies and
their heads brought into the classified
civil service.
norafed in the measure providing for
the secret service. which provided that
there should be no detail from the
secret service and no transfer there
from II is not too much to say that
this amendment has been of benefit
only. and could be of benefit only, to
the criminal classes
If deliberately introduced for the
purpose of diminishing the effective
ness of war against
...----------- crime it could not
Law Proved Com have been better
fort to Crimfnalsl devised to this
Produced No GOOD end IT forbade
- the practices that
had been followed to greater or