The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1909-05-19

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WASHINGTON. May 1I-Thc report
which has been widely published
that Mr.. BnlIinGer. the new secretary
of the interior, has had serious dif-
ference Of opinion with President TART:
has no foundation, in fact. The report,
however, did grow out of IN interesting
state of affairs connected with the ad
ministralion of public land laws, Tic
forestry law and other statutes al Nilal
interest 10 the far west. The fact ls
that Secretary BaillnGcr. IN the rev
short weeks since ha began his admin
istratiou. has turned certain policies IN
The interior department upside down.
In so doing. he has encountered the op,
position of Clifford Pinchot, the chtct
forester. who was at times mildly sup
ported by Secretary of Agriculture
James Wilson; and he has run aioul OF
that interesting body of citizens lden-
titled in the popular mind with Wnat Is
known for short. as the 'uplft
The new secretary of the interior
has found that tho forest service and
reclamation service during the last few
years have been doing good many
things without any warrant of law: and
Mr.. Ballinger entcrtains the old-fash-
Ioned notion that the United States
government is II government OF law,
and that things should he done III strict
conformity with the letter and the
spirit of the statutes. The first NUT
tering of the storm caused by the IN
PRODUCTION of lawful methods of admin
istration by Secretary Ballingcr were
heard when he questioned the With
drawal of large areas of public land by
the forest service for what are known
as administrative sites.
Administrative sites is heautiful
phrase which, when emanatlng from the
Inns of a forestry expert or an cX-
ponent of the "uplft,' has sound
pleasing to the car, but nobody seems
to know Just what it means. As nearly
as can be asccrtained, the withdrawal
of lands for the purpose vaguely de-
scr;bed by this charming phrase has Tor
lis ostensible object the creation of
place upon which the forest service
NAV establish ranger stations and pro-
vide other facilities for the admlnlstra-
tion OF the national forest reservations.
This object, of course, would make II
seem reasonable, that the Withdrawals
in question should be within the pres
ent reserves: but IT is a matter OF rec
ord that thousands OF acres have been
Withdrawn Mt the instance of the for
est service outside the national forests,
and vet they are called adminlstra-
trative sites and are presumably to
istration of the reserves. Where these
peculiar Withdrawals are made within
the boundaries Of present national Tor
ests. one is led to question the necessity
of such Withdrawals, since the land has
already been withdrawn, and Is subject
10 all the restrictions and safeguards
which arc provided by the national for
est service law
A., intn ipr
proceed very far. however, before it is
found that the Withdrawals for the pur-
poses described rs administrative
Sites are really n subtcrfuge of the
forest service. Several years ago, con
gress enacted a law prohibiting the
withdrawal in certain states OF any
more lands for forest reservation pur-
poses. except under direct authority of
congress. These states are six III mum
ber-C Colorado, Idaho. Montana, Ore
gon, Washington and Wyoming. 1t is
interesting and significant 10 learn
indicative. ii is believed Of the mod
crn practice of administering personal
govcrnmcnt-th1t former Secretary of
the Interior Garfield AT the instance of
the forest service Withdrew IN tho SIX
states mentioned total of more :han
5000 acres of land outside Of forest
service reserves. These tracts were de-
scribed as administrative sites" OF
course. these Withdrawals had no war
raDt OF law; on the contrary, they were
IN direct contraveution of the statute
which prohibited further Withdrawals of
lands for forestry purposes In the six
states named.
When Secretary Ballinger came into
office he found that the Withdrawals
Of lands under the clever subterfugc
of administrative Sites and of wa
Ter power sites amounted to probably
not less than 100000 acres. These
Withdrawals had been made without
any authority of law whatever. Be
tho laws faithfully, he directed that
these great areas be restored to entry.
This was horTifvipg TO all the "uplift-
crs.f and 10 all those so-callcd conser-
VatiouistS who seemed TO believe not
only IN conservation but IN absolute
stagnation of development. 1t may
be said, however. that new Withdrawals
viii he made in the near future, and
some have already been made. but
they Will be made only after an exami-
nation as 20 the merits OF the proposed
Withdrawals: The following may. be
taken as fair statement OF the situa-
tion as far as the Withdrawals for for
cstry purposes are concerned:
Withdrawals for forestry purposes are
made by the secretary of the interior
upon the recommendation of the sccre-
iary Of agriculture, either for tcmpor-
ary or permanent use in certain states
and territories. and arc likewise re-
voked and the lands restored 10 the
public domain. The reasons for rcvo-
cation of such Withdrawals are that the