Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-09-16

which certificates were issued to entry
| men for work done and material fur
| nished with a view to enlarge the
projects Of the reclamation bureau. You
| brought up the question of the legality
| of such certificates In cabinet meeting,
and were directed to submit 1t to the
| Attorney General. That officer has. very
properly, in my judgment decided that
II is at variance with an explicit prohi-
bition in the reclamation law to issue
such certificates. The fundamental man.
date of that law is that no project
shall be entered upon until there is
money enough in the reclamation fund
| to pay for the project or the part there
of contracted for.
Certificate System Not Good.
1.-The certificate system is in fact a sys-
tenn for borrowing labor and material
and making the government debtor to
intending settlers. a system that is in
hibited by law and cannot but result ul-
timately in disaster. OF course, those
who have accepted such certificates for
labor and material in good faith ought to
be recompensed. and l shall ask from
Congress at the next session special re-
lief for them.
meantime, the work of reclama ton
should be carried on wherever funds are
available with all the dispatch possible,
and 1 am assured that this is being done
1 hope that after you have made per-
| sonal investigation of all the reclamation
work and looked into the finances of the
undertakings you will be able to make
report to Congress. showing exactly what
has been done. what ought to be done
and what additional legislation. if any,
is needed and ought to be passed to fur
Their this great and important work.
Another instance in your conduct of the
department which has been mentioned as
indicative of your purpose to block the
general plan of conservation of national
resources is your refusal to carry out
contract made in the last administration
between the Secretary of the Interior and
the Secretary of Agriculture, by which
the Interior Department delegates to the
forestry bureau of the Agricultural De-
partment the power and duty TO conserve
the forests on the Indian reservations and
to expend under the control of the for
estry bureau the money appropriated by
Congress TO be expended by the Indian
bureau for such conservation, of Indian
| forests. Your declination to carry out the
contract was made necessary by a ruling
of the controller. whose ruling is final
and without appeal even to the President,
that such an arrangement is delegation
Of responsibility and authority for the
expenditure of money which the appro-
priation by Congress for the Indian bu-
reau did not authorize.
Congress- Sanction Necessary.
While 1 agree that it would avoid
wasteful duplication in organization to
authorize the forestry bureau of the Agri-
cultural Department to take care and
develop the forests on Indian reserva-
lions, because the forestry bureau is
much better able. with its trained men, TO
do the work with efficiency and economy.
it is plainly necessary, in view of the
controllers ruling to secure COMPRESSION
al sanction for such cooperation. Mean
time, your withdrawal from an unauthor-
lied contract does not furnish the slight
est basis for attributing to you unfriend-
illness to proper forestation.
I'm my judgment he is the best friend
of the policy of conservation of natural
resources who insists that every step
taken in that direction should be within
the law and buttressed by legal author