The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-01-22

partments through the medium of an
administrative commission or board.
acting in cooperation with the states
and other organizations and individ-
ual citizens.
The work of waterway development
should be undertaken without delay.
MerttoriouS projects in known con-
formity with the general outlines of
any comprehensive plan should proceed
at once. The cost of the whole work
should be met by direct appropriation
if possible, but if necessary by the is
sue of bonds in small denominations.
1t is especially important that the
development of water power should be
guarded with the utmost care both by
the national government and by she
states in order to protect the people
against the upgrowth of monopoly and
to insure to them a fair share in the
benefits which will follow the develop
ment1of this great asset which belongs
to the people and should be controlled
by them.
Protection of Forests.
urge that provision be made for
both protection and more rapid de-
veIopment of the national forests
Otherwise either the increasing use
of these forests by the people must
be checked or their protection against
fire must be dangerously weakened.
If we compare the actual fire damage
on similar areas on private and ma
tional forest lands during the past
year, the government fire patrol saved
comm erciaI timber worth as much as
the total cost of caring for all national
forests at the present rate for about
IN years.
I especially commend to the con-
gress the facts presented by the COM
mission as to the relation between
forests and stream flow in its bearing
upon the importance of the forest
lands in national ownership. Without
an understanding. of this intimate rela-
ton the conservation of both these
natural resources must largely fail.
The time has fully arrived for
recognizing in the law the respon-
sibility to the community, the state,
and the nation which rests upon the
private owners of private lands. The
ownership of forest land is a. public
trust. The man who would so handle
his forest as to cause erosion and to
injure stream flow must be not only
educated, but he must be controlled.
The report of the national con-
servation commission says:
Forests Sin private ownership can
not be conserved unless they are pro-
tected from fire. We need good fire
laws, well enforced. Fire control is
impossible without an adequate force
of men whose sole duty is fire patrol
during the dangerous season"
I hold as first among the tasks be-
fore the states and the nation in their
respective shares in forest conserva-
ton the organization of efficient fire
patrols and the enactment of good fire
laws on the part of the states.
The report says further:
present tax laws prevent reforesta-
ton of cut-oyer land and the per-
petuation of existing forests by use.
An annual tax upon the land itself.
exclusive of the timber, and a tax
upon the timber when cut is well
adapted to actual conditions of forest
investment and is practicable and GER
tain. 1t is far better that forest land
should pay a moderate tax per-
manently than that it should pay an
excessive revenue temporarily and
then cease to yield at ALL
Second only in Importance to good
fire laws well enforced is the enact
ment of tax laws which will permit
the perpetuation of existing forests by
use.
Lands for the People.
With our increasing population the time
/ is not far distant when the problem of
come pressing. The possible additions to
our arabic area are not great, and 1T will
become necessary to obtain much larger
crops from the land. as is now done in
this, we need better farm practice and
better strains of wheat, corn, and other
crop plants, with a reduction in losses
of soil erosion and from insects, animals,
and other enemies of agriculture The
United states department of agriculture
is doing excellent work in these directions
The remaining public lands should be
classified and the arabic lands disposed
Of to home makers. In their interest the
timber and stone act and the commuta-
ton clause OF the homestead act should
be repealed, and the desert-land law
should be modified in accordance with
the recommendations of the pubic lanoS
commission.