The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-09


 pursued pes in the absence of execu- i've authority for originating compre- nensive plans covering the country or opnon yssns nsSTsy rbe e Drs. rss ent methods not only fail to give us inland navigation, but they are injuri- ous to the army as we'll. What Is vir. tually permanent. detail of the corps sarily impairs the, efficiency of our mil- itary establishment. The military en. gineers have undoubtedly done efficient work in actusi construction. suited afs by shs their nessssa training and traditions to, take the broad view. and to gather and transmit to the Congress the commercial industrial information and forecasts. upon which waterway improvement must always so largely rest Furthermore, they have failed to grasp the great underlying fact that every stream is a unit from It's sourse to it's month and that all its uses are interdepen5ent. Prominent officers of the Engineer Corps have recently even gone so far as to assert in print that waterways are not de- pendent upon the conservation or 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 ex- perience of mankind. A physician who disbelieved in vaccination would nor be the right man to handle an epidemic of smallpox. nor should we leave a doctor skepticais about the transmission of yellow fever by the Stegomyia mosquito in charge of sanitation at Havana or Panama. So with the im- provement of our rivers; 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 naviga- ton and general 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 can not have results that will meet the needs of this modern nation. These needs should not be met without further dIlly -daliylng or delay. The quichkest results is that of perma- nept comm ission authorized to coordi- nate the work of all the Government departments relating to waterways. and to frame and supervise the execu- tion of comprehensive plan. Under such commission the actual work of construction might be entrusted to the reclamation service; or to the military engineers acting with a sufficient num- Der of civilians to continue the work in time Of war; or 1t might. be divided between the reclamation service and the corps of engineers. Funds should be provided from current revenues If 1t Is deemed wise-otherwise from the
 
 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 organi-. zation for planning and directing It. The time for playing with our water ways Is past. The country demands
 National Parks.
 urge that all our National parks adjacent to National forests be placed f-ry rr1A AI AA~ hA hF hA forest service of the Agricultural De- partment, instead of leaving tn em as they now are under the Interior Department and policed by the army. intendents with adequate corps of flrst-class scouts. pr rangers, and further. place the road construction ander the superintendent instead of leaving 1t with the War Department. Such a change in park management the difficulties of administration which now arise from having the responsi- bility of care and protection divided between 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
 I am happy to say that I have been able to set aside in various parts of the country well-chosen tracts of ground. to serve as sanctuaries and nurseries for wild creatures.
 Denatared AIeohols
 had occasion in my message of May 4. 1908, to urge the passage of some law putting alcohol, used in the arts. industries. and manufactures. for the withdrawal free of tax of alcohol which is to be denatured for those purposes. The law of June 2, 1906, and it's amendment of March 2, 1907. accomplished what was desired in that respect, and the use of denatured alcohol, as intended, Is making a fair degree of progress and is entitled to further encouragement and support from the Congress.
 Pure Food.
 The pure food legislation has al- ready worked benefit difficult to
 Indian Service.
 It has been my purpose from the beginning. of my administration to take the Indian Service completely out of the atmosphere of political activity, and there has been steady progress towards that end. The last remaining stronghold of politics in that service was the agency system. which had seen It's best days and was gradually falling to pieces from. natural or purely evolutionary causes but. like all such survtvals. was decaying slowly in it's later stages. It seems clear that it's extinction had better bo made final now. so ths. the ground can be cleared for larger constructive work on behalf of the Indians, preparatory to their induction into the full measure of responsible citizenship. On No0em- Der only eighteen agencies wees left onthe roster; with two exceptions where some legal question seemed to stand temporarily in the way. these have been changed to superinten- dencies. and their heads brought into the classified civil. service.
 Seret. Service.
 Last lear an amendment was incor- porated in the measure providing for the Secret Service. which provided that Secret Service and no transfer there from. It 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 diminish ing the effectiveness of war against crime 1t could not have been better devised to this end. It forbade the practices that had been followed to a greater or less extent by the sx- ecntive heads of various departments for twenty years. To these parctices we owe the securing of the evidence which enabled us to drive great lotteries out of business and secure a qudIIST OL Al1lllOn O1 QOlIaTS in fines from their promoters. These practices have enabled us to discover some of the most outrageous frauds in connection with the theft of govern ment land and government timber by great corporations and by individuals. These practices have enabled us to get some of the evidence indispensable in order to secure the conviction of the wealthiest and most formidable criminals with whom the Government has to deal, both those operating In