Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-12-30
Taft Will Soon Recon-
mend Conservation Law.
viii Prepare Message When
Present One Is Completed.
Believes People Are Educated and
Action Is Now In Order.

Washington Dec. 29.-UnleSs Presi-
dent Taft abandons a pretty firmly
fixed intention, he will not wait for the
of the congressional inquiry into the
so-called Ballinger- Pinchot controver-
sy, before sending to Congress his spe-
cial message on the conservation of
natural resources. The President is eX-
pected to begin the preparation of this
message as soon as he has finished the
one dealing with proposed amendments
to the interstate commerce and anti
trust acts, upon which he is now en-
gagged.
Furthermore, it can be stated upon
adequate authority that Mr.. Taft is
confident that the conservation legisla-
ton which he proposes will be enact
ed into law before the end of the pres
ent session of Congress.
The new statutes, which the admins
tration declares will be the first that
ever have dealt adequately with the
natural resources, will be President
Taft's answer to SO much of the crit
icism as has been directed against him.
Senator Knute Nelson of Minnesota,
chairman of the Senate committee on
public lands, is cooperating with the
President in the matter of the conser-
walton laws and has assured him that
there will be no difficulty in putting the
new laws through the Senate In the
House there is likely to be some oppo-
sition, but the President feels sure that
it can be overcome.
White House callers who have talk
ed with President Taft on the subject
describe him as believing that he will
best prove his friendship for the
Roosevelt Policies" of conservation
by putting laws on the statute book
that will actually carry these policies
into effect. Mr.. Taft takes the position,
it is said, that the campaign of educa-
ton carried on by President Roosevelt
is complete, that there no longer is
any need of urging the necessity of
conserving the natural resources OF the
nation, and that the people are ready
for action.
Little or no help, those close to the
administration point out, has come to
the President from the many people
WHO have joined in the controversy as
critics and it is said that the Presi
dent feels not little put out with the
various bodies and conventions that
have been free with praise and con-
domination, but have offered no con-
crete suggestion. .~
The real problem to he solved is how
best to dispose of the public lands con-
tanning water power sites, coal and
phosphates. Such lands have been
withdrawn from entry under the gen.
eral land laws. but they cannot be held
indefinitely, and there is no special
law governing their sale or lease. 1t
is generally admitted that the coal and
phosphates must be taken out by pri-
yate capital and yet there must at the
same time be safeguards against mo-
nopoly.
Mr.. Taft now has before him the
drafts of several proposed statutes de-
signed for conserving the valuable re-
sources of the government and for dis
posing of the lands under terms that
meet the Presidents ideas as to fair
ness and justice
Secretary of-1the Interior Ballinger
has been working, it is asserted, I'M
der the Presidents direction, on the
details of the proposed laws.
Senator Nelson has been freely con-
suited about the proposed laws ano
has been diligently at work himself on
the subject.