The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1909-11-17
WANT GOVERNMENT
TO RULE MONOPOLY
Former Secretary of the m
terror Garfield and Doctor
Eliot Speak.
VOICE IMPERATIVE NEED
OF CONSERVING RESOURCES
Mr.. Garfield Particularly Eli
phatic in Pointing Out Ne
cessity for Action.

CINCINNATI, O.. NoV. lG.-Pica,
Tor tho government regulation OF
monopolics were voiced tonight before
the Joint convention of the National
Municipal league and the American
civic association hy former Secretary
OF The Interior Jamcs Il. Garfield, aud
by Charles W. Eliot president emeritus
of Harvard. Both declared that il was
imperative tha; tho government take
immediate steps for the conservation of
resources
Mr.. Garfield said that the country ;
natural resources arc in imminent dan.
ger of exhaustion, and that interests
which developed this source of national
wealth must he regulated.
Mr. Garfield also maintained that
the interests OF the pcoelc were not be
ing properly safcguardcd in the Alaska
coal fields and that legislation on that
SUBJECT was urgently needed.
Mr.. Garficld's Address.
He said in part:
The permanent wclfarc of our ma
'lon cannot be assured unless We. in
ms generation. provide for tho con
S"fNailon OF our natioual resources
Hitherto we have been nccdlcsslv
wastcfui. We have bccu too much oc.
cupied with the present. too little with
the future. The inventory OF our rc.
sources shows the immediate danger
OF their depletion or exhaustion.
Conservation is pre- -cmincntlv \
movement for the public welfare. Ex.
actiy rs thc railroads are regulated be.
cause they are public utilities. so must
interests that develop natural resources
be regulated, because they deal With
public interests. Unfair use or monopo.
lizatlon of either is iiItolcrablc.
:. In Alaska the coal area Of a mil
hon acres has been withheld from on.
Try: pending Investigation. Laws pro,
ylding for the disposition of the coal
lands arc not what they should be.
Public Rights in Danger
Some improvements have been
made IN reccut years, but the rights OF
the public arc not safcguardcd None
of those lands should bc disposed of
until legislation is enacted which viii
provide method bv which tho coal can
be developed ss il is needed until such
regulations as will prevent speculative
or monopolistic holdings by few great
interests, aud viii yield 10 the nation
u far monetary return. Under lsas-
lHS system III tneSc conditions can bc
readily improved.
Congress has wisely provided for
the great irrigation projects thai have
been started, but there is immediate
need of legislation 10 control the use
and development of waterpowcr to The
end that. as with other resources. the
public may, under Il system of fran
chise or lease, protect it's own great
interests ana obtain Just compensation
Must Bo Progressive.
'.'rhc great progress that has been
made through the recent wears. will
not be stopped, The people of our
country will not tolerate any backward
steps. They demand. and Will $40 10
IL That their demand is needed; that
the great policy Of conservation shall
be one in the interests of public vel
fare -
DIR. Eliot was equally emphatic.
"Thc sentiment Of preserving our
natural resources, - he said. .'has gone
like wild.Grc throughout the country,
The people have reached positive con.
and they mean TO have con
At the afternoon session. a. J.. We'll
Of littshurg, who has prosecuted mu.
uicipal corruption IN that citv. said that
the greatest detcrring clements in re-
form campaigns are public apathy and
lack Of financial support.