Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-12-31
THE ONWARD MARCH OF
PUBLIC CONSERVATION

A MOTHER movement which attracted
"a well-nigh universal interest Gin this
country was that in behalf of reclamation
and the conservation of our natural re-
sources, with especial attention to those
resources still in the hands of the federal
government
What had been begun under the Roose-
welt regime. and conceived long before
that. was continued, with due expansion
during the year. The government prose-
cuted without interruption its many irri-
cation projects in the west. and Septem-
Der % signalized one of its most mo.
mentous undertakings by opening the
Gunnson tunnel for the reclamation Of
the Montrose valley in Colorado. Pres
ident Taft touched the button for this oc-
caSion and made the dedicatory address.
and thereafter made it evident in many Of
his speeches on his western tour that the
Sympathies of the current administration
We're fully with the reclamation move
mentand that. SO far as it lay within the
power of the chief executive. all possible
steps would be taken to further the rec
lamation development.
The Spokane Congress.
At the national irrigation congress,
which assembled in Spokane August IL,
there arose the now celebrated contro-
versy between Chief Forester Clifford
Pinchot and Secretary of the Interior Bal
linger over the protection of water power
sites. Secretary Ballnger had revoked an
order of Secretary Garfield. his predeces-
sor. in regard to the withdrawal from en-
try of certain lands containing sites for
water power and Forester Pinchet. in his
address at the irrigation congress, APP
peared to criticise the wisdom of this pol
icy. A somewhat sharp exchange of opin-
Gated by an affair in Alaska. wherein 1t
was alleged that certain numerous coal
land claims taken by the Cunningham
system had been wrongfully entered. Sec
rotary Ballinger had at one time been the
attorney for the Cunningham syndicate,
and this was cited to show that his ac-
tions in the governments attempt to with
draw entry on these coal lands were not
The whole subject was
passed up to the President. who made
public a letter fully generating Ballinger
and dfsmissing from Office the chief field
inspector of the forestry service l.. II.
Claws. for filing misleading information
against Ballinger. Subsequently. the
President also made public letter TO
Pinchot stating that the Ballnger letter
was not intended as a reflection upon him.
praising Pinchot's great service to the
country. and expressing a hope that he
would remain at his post.
Controversy Still Unsettled.
The controversy was still unset
tied as the year closed. But that the
advocates of conservation were not az
fected by the whole. matter was made
evident by a strong appeal issued by
Charles w. Eliot, who retired from the
presidency of Harvard University. and
had been made president of the National i.
Conservation League, for concentration
of popular attention on the preservation
of the nations resources both in coal and
in water. power. Associated with Dr.
Eliot in the league were many or the
most prominent men in the country, the
league being an outgrowth, of the CONFER
ence held In Washington in February.
The declaration of principles by the con-
ference was transmitted to Congress py
President Roosevelt as a possible guide
in shaping legislation.
A natural corollary of the conserva-
ton agitation was the the m Nov en-.
tremely strong throughout the year, es-
pecially in the middle west, where the
lakes-to-gulf navigation plans were given
a big impetus by a convention at New
Orleans early in November. Prior to
a steamboat trip down the Mississippi
in his western tour. and In his various
speeches en- route repeated the position
he had taken in his speeches PARTNER
west. and in November, at Norfolk.s
waterway congress-viz., that the Whole
subject OF waterways should be put upon
the same comprehensive and business
like basis as had been used in the case
of the Panama canal, which MADE not
able progress during the year. He adj
yocated the formation of a systematic
nlan of procedure and the creation of
bond issue with which to carry it out,
at the same time setting his face hrmly
against 1.-The pork barrel. This idea
he promised to recommend in his mes
sage to Congress.