The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1909-08-23

patches from Washington set forth
that the dispute has reached such an
acute stage that Presndent Taft has
felt compelled to interfere. and that l
the resignation of either Mr. Pinchot
Of Secretary Balliuger or OF both may
be asked for at any moment. In Mr..
Pinchot's absence attaches Of the For
est Service say he has no intention
whatever of resigning, and that if he
goes out it will be because he is put
out.
1t is not easy to get at just what
are the details of the differences be-
tween the two men. Generally, it is |
understood that Mr.. Pinchot insists |,
upon a continuance of the policies,
in the matter of the public domain, in
! stittued during the Roosevelt admins
tration, which policies Mr. Pinchot is
popularity supposed to have originated
! 1t is Furthermore the general under
standing that under these policies the
laws restricting alienation of public
lands particularly where irrigation or
water power is involved, have been
given very broad scope and applica-
ton, in short. that the government has
been given the benefit of the doubt:
where as Mr.. Ballinger seems to stand
for the enforcement of the laws strict
ly according to the letter of their pro-
visions and no further.
Without a knowledge of the facts
involved sufficient to justify an opin-
ion on the particular merits of the
dispute, we believe that the sympa-
thy of the public is very largely with
Mr.. Pinchot, and that, at the very
least, the burden of proof is upon Sec
rotary Ballinger to show that the pol
icies adopted and enforced during re-
cent years, under Mr.. Pinchot's admin
istration, should be changed.
There are vast areas of public land
whose value the government has never
had time to determine. OF $4,000, 900
acres left of the public domain more
than three-fourths is still unsurveyed.
Many of these tracks are probably
known by private interests to contain
enormously valuable deposits of min
eral, or to possess very valuable water
powers; other areas affording splen-
did opportunity for irrigation enter
prises.
For forty years the history of the
governments dealings with the public
domain in the West has been a record
of grab and graft. The government
has known nothing or next to nothing
Of the character and value of the land
it has alienated. while those who were
after it knew it all. Millions of acres
of grazing and other lands, in immense
areas, have passed into the hands of
private owners in a way that has not
only turned into the public treasury
any adequate compensation, but has
resulted in building up arrogant and
oppressive monopolies. If this were
possible in grazing lands, it is infin-
itely more possible in the matter of If
rigation and water power. The two
great things which the West lacks,
and which lack alone set a limit to
the possibilities of future development,
are water and fuel that is, fuel for
power generation. There is no coal
west of the Great Divide and much of
the coal and Ignite deposits east of
the mountains is of inferior quality.
In the matter of fuel the West will al
ways be in bondage to the East or
some other country, and in time, with
the growth of population, it will come
to be a very CALLING bondage Al
ready, and for many years, the cities
ON the coast have got much of their
coal from England and Australia, in
the former case the coal coming all
the way around Cape Horn in sailins
vessels.
If there exists on the public lands in
the West, and undoubtedly there does,
great possibilities of water power and
irrigation, Mr.. Pinchot is right for
their use is developed. What is left |
of the public domain should not be |
permitted to fall as a prize to the
speculative greed and graft that has
already obtained so much, and if to
prevent possibilities of further frauds
the present laws have to be stretched
a little, it is only an argument that
here should be more or new laws en-
acted.
We hope agreement between Mr..
oinchot and Secretary Balilnger can
re effected, with out the former re-
eding in the slightest jot or TITLE
rom the position he has assumed. We ,
ope that neither of the distinguished u
entlemen will be forced to resign, S
mt if either has to go, we sincerely
Dpe it will not be Mr.. Pinchot. His Il
,moval from the position he now II
dds would be little short of a calam nj
y, and particularly regretted by lum- W