The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-12-08


pursued lies in the absence of execu-
tive authority for originating compre-
hensive plans covering the country or
natural divisions thereof In this
opinion L heartily concur The pres
ent methods not only fail to give us
inland navigation, but they are inju-
rious to the army as well. What is
virtually a permanent detail of the
corps of engineers to civilian duty nee
essarily impairs the efficiency of our
military establishment The military
engineers have undoubtedly done eff
cient work in actual construction, but
they are necessarily unsuited by their
training and traditions to take the
broad view and to gather and trans
nit to the congress the commercial
and Industrial information and fore
casts upon which waterway improve
ment must always so largely rest.
Furthermore, they have failed to grasp
the great underlying fact that every
stream is a unit from its source to its
mouth and that all its uses are inter
dependent. Prominent officers of the
engineer corps have recently even gone
so far as to assert in print that wa
terways 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 of the government and to the
general experience of mankind. A
physician who disbelieved in vaccine.
ton would not be the right man to
handle an epidemic of smallpox, nor
should we leave a doctor skepticaI
about the transmission of yellow fever
by the stegomyia mosquito in charge
of sanitation at Havana or Panama.
So with the Improvement of our rive
ers. 1t is no longer wise or safe to
leave this great work in the hands OF
men who fail to grasp the essential
relations between navigation and gen.
eral development and to assimilate and
use the central facts about our
streams.
Until the work of river Improvement
is undertaken in a modern way it cane
not have results that Will meet the
needs of this modern nation. These
needs 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 a 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 it
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 a new organization for planning
and directing it, The time for playing
with our waterways is past. The cOun-
try demands results.
National Parks.
I urge that all our national parks adj
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
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
~
between different departments. The
need for this course is peculiarly great
in the Yellowstone park. This, like the
Yosemite, is u 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
1 am happy to say that l have been
able to set aside in various parts Of
the country small we'll chosen tracts
of ground to serve as sanctuaries and
nurseries for wild creatures
Denatured Alcohol.
| had occasion in my message Of
May 4. 1906, to urge the passage Of
some law putting alcohol used in the
arts, industries and manufactures upon
the free iist-that is, to provide for the
withdra wal free of tax of alcohol
which is TO be denatured for those
purposes. The law of June q. 1906,
and its 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
Their encoura cement and support from
the congress.