Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1909-12-11
ADVOCATES OF MOUNTAIN FOR,
EST RESERVES TRYING TO
LINE UP TAFT.
CANNON AND TAWNEY
WITH THE OPPOSITION
Bill Introduced at Present Session for
White neutrality-suspicious. Re-
serves Calls for Appropriation of
s11,cooo oo-BaIIinser Supposed to Be
Against Scheme.
Especial Correspondence.l

Washington, Dec. 11.-When Presi-
dent Taft sends his reclamation mes
sage to congress, will he include in it
an Endorsement Of the White Noun
ject?
That question is giving anxiety to
the Appalachian forestry interests,
which for two or three years have been
urging their project with the greatest
earnestness. Last winter they secured
passage, thru the house, of the bill by
Mr.. Weeks of Massachusetts,, to ap-
propriate s19.000,00O for this project,
but it died in the senate. The hope is
that the present congress may be in
duced to pass it.
The opposition of Speaker Cannon
and OF Chairman Tawney of the appro-
priation committee is we'll known, and
it is expected they will make a strong
effort to induce the president to accept
their view. The advocates of the pro-
Ject are just as determined to get the
president on their side, and it is con-
sidered that the position which the
president takes in this matter will be
highly significant of his general atti-
tude toward conservation. Conse-
quently the two sides are lining up for
the strongest possible effort to secure
the sympathy and Endorsement of the
president.
The Weeks bill as it passed the
house appropriated s19,000,000, to be
spread over ten years; one million to
be used the first year, and two millions
annually the following nine years. 1t
has been introduced at the present ses-
sion, to carry only s11, 0O0, 900, and
cover a period Of six years, one million
the first and two millions every sue
ceeding year.
Bulletin Of Project.
The bill sets aside 100000 a year
for fire protection thru the establish
ment Of a fire warden system. The
secretary Of agriculture is to recon-
mend the purchase of necessary tracts
of land around the headwaters of nav
igable streams; and after these recon-
mendations have been made, COM
mission composed of the secretaries of
war, agriculture and interior, with two
senators and two representatives,
shall determine whether they shall be
taken over. Having been bought, they
re to be administered by the forest
-rvice precisely as if they were parts
of the public domain, which indeed
they would be. 1t is provided that
per cent of each years collections of
revenue from the lands shall go to the
counties in which they are located, in
lieu of taxes.
The opposition of Speaker Cannon
and Chairman Tawney is based on the
general view that for the government
to enter on such a project would be the
initiation of a program ultimately GER
tain to involve vast expenditures; the
possibility of the sum running into bill
lions is seriously predicted. Chairman
Scott of the house committee on agri-
culture is likewise opposed to the en-
terprise and he has made a trip thru
the region involved, and announced
that the conservationists were all
wrong in their notions about the eff
feet Of deforestation on the soil and the
streams. Mr.. Scott is further credited
with the general observation that he
didn't take much stock in mountains,
anyway. The topography of the Kansas
plains appeals to him as representing
about the right conformation of a de-
sirable landscape.
BaIineer May Oppose.
The eastern forest reserve people ex-
pect that Secretary Ballinger will be
opposed to them, and they realize that
under all the circumstances they will
have a hard fight to get the president
tn foly fhQfr J,ian IN
them is especially necessary, in view
of the fact that a good many of the
western people last winter opposed this
plan; and the Appalachian contingent
take the position that if the west
wants money for irrigation, ETC., it
ought to repay the compliment in the
form Of some investment in the east
and south.
In behalf of the Appalachian pro-
ject 1t is urged that time is precious.
Unless steps are soon taken, there will
be no forests left to preserve in the
Appalachians, because the trees are be-
ing cut away about as fast as men and
money and skill can make it possible.
They insist that all experience has
proved that it is not matter which
the states can be expected to care for.
The executive committee of the
American Conservation Association
will meet here on Friday under the
presidency of DR.. Charles w. Eliot late
president of Harvard, to decide upon a
plan for pushing this forestry cam
paign in the interest of east and south.
The meeting will probably ask the
privilege of a call at the White House
and a presentation of the whole matter
to the president There is also a pro-
posal Of making general appeal to the
public for assistance and backing. DR..
Eliot is profoundly interested in the
matter, and a circular appeal to the
country, over his signature, is likely t.
be inssued.
M.$u..Iu,.