The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1908-12-08

point, tIidl lile IeIIleuy SnOulQ come
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 a 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 thf first and most important ele-
ment iii the conservation of the ma
tural resources of the country There
are of course two kinds of natural re-
sources. One is the kind which can
only be used as 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
head. Any really civilized nation will
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
rem, 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 deforestation. 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 sheen
which over the country means des-
tructiOn to forests and disaster to the
small home makers, the settlers of
limited means
Shortslghted 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. 1t is
dlIflcult to have patience with the ar
guments of these persons Thanks to
our own recklessness in the use of orr
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-
recially 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, Tor the Improvement of our in
land waterways-action which will re-
suit In giving us not only navigable
but navigated rivers We have spent
hundreds of millions of dollars upon
thesa 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-
sive and ar-seeing plan of waterway
Improvement. Obviously we can not
continue thus to expend the revenues
or the government without return. 1t
Is poor business to spend money for
inland navigation unless we get it.
National Parks.
L 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
1ntendents with adequate corps of first
class civilian scouts, or rangers, and
further, place the road construction
under the superintendent instead of
ieav1ng 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 great wonderland, and |