The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1908-12-08
k. 1t is far better, from every stand

from within. In no other nation in the
world do the courts WELD such vast
and far-reaching power as in the
United States. All that is necessary
is that the courts as whole should
exercise this power with the far
sighted wisdom already shown by those
Judges who scan the future while they
act in the present. Let them exer-
else this great power not only honest
ly and bravely, but with wise insight
into the needs and fixed purposes of
the people, SO that they may do JUS
tice, and work equity so that they
may protect all persons in their rights,
and yet break down the barriers of
privilege, which is the foe of right.
Forests.
If there is any one duty which more
than another we owe it to our child
rem and our children's children to per-
form at once. it is to save the for
ests of this country, for they consti-
tute thfe first and most important ele-
ment iii the conservation of the ma
tura resources of the country. There
are of course two kinds of natural re-
sources One is the kind which can
only be used as a part of a process of
exhaustion; this is true of mines, ma
tural oil and gas wells, and the like.
The other, and of course ultimately by
far the most important. includes the
resources which can be improved in
the process Of wise use; the SOIL the
rivers, and the forests come under this
so use al of these three great national
assets that the nation will have their
benefit in the future Just as a farm
er, after all his life making his living
from his farm, will, if he is an ex-
pert farmer, leave it as an asset of
increased value to his son, so we should
leave our national domain to our child
ren. increased in value and not worn
out. There are small sections of our
own country, in the east and in the
west in the Adirondacks, the White
Mountains, and the Appalachians, and
in the Rocky mountains, where we can
already see for ourselves the damage in
the shape of permanent injury to the
soil and the river systems which comes
from reckless deforestaton. 1t mat
ters not whether this deforestation is
due to the actual reckless cutting of
timber, to the fires that inevitably fol-
low such reckless cutting of timber, or
! to reckless and uncontrolled grazing
especial y by the great migratory bands
! of sheep, the unchecked wandering of
which over the country means des-
truction to forests and disaster to the
small home makers, the settlers of
! limited means.
! "Shortsighted persons, or persons
blinded to the future by desire to make
money in every way out of the pre-
sent, sometimes speak as if no great
damage would be done by the reck-
less destruction of our forests It is
difficult to have patience with the ar
guments of these persons. Thanks to
our own recklessness in the use of our
splendid forests, we have already
crossed the verge Of a timber famine
in this country and no measures that
we now take. can, at least for many
years, undo the mischief that has al
ready been done. But we can prevent
further mischief being done; and It
would be in the highest degree repre-
hensible to let any consideration of
temporary convenience or temporary
cost interfere with such action. es-
pecially as regards the national for
ests which the nation can now, at this
very moment, control.
Inland Waterways.
"Action should be begun forthwith,
during the present session of the con-
gress for the improvement of our in
land INSTRUMENTATION which will re-
suit in giving us not only navigabIe
but navigated rivers. We have spent
hundreds of millions Of dollars upon
these waterways, yet the traffic on
nearly all of them is steadily declin-
ing. This condition is the direct re-
suit of the absence of any comprehen-
slve and far seeing plan of waterway
Improvement. Obviously we can not
continue thus to expend the revenues
Of the government without return 1t
is poor business to spend money for
inland navigation unless we get it.
National Parks.
Il urge that all our national parks
adjacent to national forests be placed
completely under the control of the
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 change in park management
wou result in economy and avoid
the difficulties of administration which
now arise from having the responsible
lily of care and protection divided be-
tween 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 a national play
ground. In both all wild things should
be protected, and the scenery kept
wholly unmarried.
i am happy to say that 1 have been