Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1908-12-11

law. II can never be effective II a divided
responsibility is left in both the states
and the nation; it can never be effective
# left in the hands OF the courts to be
decided by lawsuits.
The courts hold a place of peculiar and
deserved sanCttty under our form OF gov
ernment. Respect for the law Is, essen
lions; and respect for the law Is largely
Conditioned upon respcct for the courts.
It is an ofense against the republic to
say anything. which can weaken this re,
spect, save for the ,gravest reason and
Our Judges should be held IN peculiar
honor: and the duty Of respectful aud
snnnI1 he ' 4imIiHn v @nn w Sele aGeaR' at " any
body. should be especially binding when
we speak of them.
y CONSERVATION =
y or RESOURCES =
-
If there is any one duty which more
than another we owe 1t to our children
and our childrcn's children to perform
at once, It Is TO save the forests or this
most important element in the coilserva-
ton of the natural resources of the coun-
try. There are, of course, two kinds of
natural resources. One is the kind which
can only be used as part of a process OF
exhaustion; this is true of mines, natural
other. and of course ultimately by far
the most important, includes the re-
sources WI1lcl can ne improved III IN
process Of wise use; the soil. the rivers,
and the forests come under this head:
Any really civilized nation Will SO use all
of these three great national assets that
the nation Will have their benefit IN the
future. Just as a farmer, after all his
Will, ii he is all expert farmer, leave it as
an asset Of increased value to his son,
SO we should leave our national domain
to our children, increased in value and
not worn out. There are small sections
Of our own country. in the East and IN
Mountains, and the Appalachians. and in
the Rocky mountains, where we can al
the shape, of permanent injury to the soil
and the river systems which comes from
reckless deforestation- 1t matters not
whether this deforestation is due to the
actual reckless cutting of timber. to the
fires that inevitably follow such reckless
cutting. of timber, or to reckless and I'M
controlled grazing, especially by the great
migratory bands of sheep, the unchecked
wandering OF which over the. country
means destruction to forests and disaster
70 the small! home makers. the settlers
of limited means
to the future by desire to make money in
every way out of the present, sometimes
d done by ~ the he re reecEkIesst destruction Of our If
forests: 1t is difficult to have patience
With the arguments Of these persons.
use of our splendid forests, we have al
ready crossed the verge of a timber fam
inc IN this country and no measures that
we now take can: at least for many
years, undo the mischief that has already
been done; But We can prevent further TT t er
the highest desree reprehensible to let
any consideration of temporary. convent
such action, especially as regards the
national forests which the nation can
now, at this very moment, control.
? Inland Waterways
Action should be begun forthwith, dur
ing the present session of the congress-.
for the Improvement of our inland water
~way not o%iy " haviga Tlll rs 6n1 navfis iS,edd
rivers. We have spent hundreds of mil
lions of dollars upon these waterways.
steadily declining. This condition is the
direct result Of the absence, of any com
way Improvement. Obviously we cannot
continue to thus expend the revenues of
the government without return. 1t is
poor business to spend money for inland
navigation unless We get It.
Inquiry into the condition Of the Missis-
sippi and its principal tributaries reveals
very many instances of the utter waste
caused by the methods which have hither-
to obtained for the so-called Improve
mentm Of na wi A striking INSTANCE
Ohio, which begun in 1924, was continued
under a single plan for half a century. In
1875 a new plan was adopted and followed
for a quarter of a century. In 1902 still
a different plan was adopted and has
since been pursued at n rate which only
romise a n~avigable river in from TWEEN
ty to one hundred years longer.
Such shortsighted, vacillating, and fu-
tile methods are ccompanied by decreas-
ing Water-borne commerce and increasing
traffic congestion on land, by increasing
foods, and by the waste of public money.
The remedy lies in abandoning the meth
DDS which have SO sigrally failed and
adopting new ones In keeping with the
needs and demands of our people.
Until the work of river Improvement is
undertaken in a modern way it can 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 a perma-
nent commission authorized to coordinate
the work of all government departments
relating to the waterways, and to frame
and supervise the execution Of a compre-
hensive plan. Under such a commission
the actual work of construction might be
entrusted to the reclamation service: or
to the military engineers acting with a suf-
fcient number of civilians to continue the
work in time of war; or 1T might be d.
vided betWeen the reclamation service
and the corps of engineers. Funds should
be provided from current 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
work and a new organization for planning
and directing it. The time for playing with
our waterways is past. The country de-
mands results.
National Parks.
I urge that all our national parks ad-
jacent to national forests be placed COM
pIetely under the control of the forest ser
vice Of the agricultural department. in
stead of leaving them as they now are.
under the interior department and policed
by the army. The congress should provide
for superintendent with adequate corps
of first class civilian scouts, or rangers,
and further, place the road construction
under the superintendent instead of leay-
ing 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 hay-
ing the responsibility of care and protec-
ton divided between different depart
ments. The need of this purpose Is pecul-
iarly great in 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.
l am happy to say that I have been able
to set aside in various parts of the coun-
try, small, well chosen tracts of ground
to serve as sa~nctuaries and nurseries for
wild creatures.
\ DEPARTMENT MATTERS. \
1t has been my purpose from the begin
ming of my administration to take the