The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1909-12-27
He Denies the Charge That the
Government Forest Bureau
Has Exceeded Powers Civ
en- by Statute.
TAKES A STRONG RAP
At PREDATORY WEALTH
He Says That Is the Gravest
Menace That Threatens the
Prosperity and Morals Of
The Country.

tAmerican News Serviesg
New Rochelle. n. Y. Dec. :1.--ln an
address on Conservation and Equal
Opportunity" delivered here this after
noon before the Peoples Forum. Gif-
ford Pinchot. chief of the United
States Forest Service. defended his
bureau against the charge that II has
exceeded the powers granted Ii by law,
and attacked predatory wealth as the
gravest danger to the prosperity and
morals of the nation. Mr.. Pinchot
said in part:
The American people have evident
ly made up their minds that our nat
ural resources must be conserved. That
is good. but it settles only half the
question. For whose benefits shall
they be conserved for the benefit OF
the many. or for the use and profit OF
the few: The great conflict now be-
ing fought will decide.
None SO important.
There are no other questions before
us that begins to be SO important, or
that will be SO difficult to straddle, as
the great question between special in
terest and equal opportunity, between
the privileges of the few and the rights
of the many. between government by
men for human welfare. and govern
ment by money for profit This 10 the
heart of the conservation problem to-
day.
The conservation is a moral issue.
When q few men get possession OF one
of the necessaries of life, either
| through ownership of q natural re-
| source or through unfair business
methods. and use that control to ex-
tort undue profits. as in the recent
cases of the Sugar Trust and the beef
packers. they injure the average man
without good reason. and they are
guilty of a moral wrong. The result
is always the same "a toll levied on the
cost of living through special privilege.
An Unjust inerease.
| ITO the special interest an unjust
rise in the cost of living means simply
higher profit. but to those who pay 1t.
that profit is measured in schooling.
warm clothing, q reserve to best emer-
gencies, q fair chance to make the
fight for comfort, decency and right
living.
Right here the conservation ques-
ton touches the daily life OF the great
body OF our people. who pay the cost
Of special privilege And the price Is
heavy. The price may be the chance
to save the boys from the saloons and
the corner gang. and the girls from
worse. and to make good citizens OF
them instead Of bad: for an appalling
proportion of the tragedies OF life
spring directly from the lack Of little
money.
Thousands Of daughters OF the poor
fall into the hands of the white slave
traders because their poverty leaves
them without protection. Thousands
of families. as the Pittsburg survey
has shown us. lead lives Of brutalizinG
, overwork in return for the barest liv-
ing
is il fair that these thousands OF
) families should have less than they
need in order that a few families
> should have swollen fortunes at their
expense?
compIaeent victimA
The people OF the United States
have been the complacent victims Oi
system OF grab. often perpetrated
by men who would have been s,lrpris
4 ed beyond measure to be accused o
!. a wrongdoing and many OF whom In
: their private lives were model cfti
= zens. But they have suffered from
e curious moral perversion. by which
e it becomes praiseworthy to do for
i corporation things which they woult
8 refuse with the liftiest scorn to do fol
: themselves. Fortunately for US. nj
s that delusion is passing rapidly away
Il believe the American people an
e weary OF politics for revenue only. I
n is time to take business out OF poll
b tics. and keep it outline for the pc
y li.ical activity of this nation to b
a aimed s1uarely at the welfare Of al
e of US. and squarely away from th'
IS excessive profits Of a few Of us.
r There is no reason why the Ameri
d can people should not take into thei
It hands again the full political powe
which is theirs by right. and whicl
they exercised before the special IN
lterests began to nullify the will Of tn
majority.
Credit to Bureau.
TT is the honorable distinction o
1.-The forest service that It has bee.
more constantly, more Violently m
more bitterly attacked BY the repre-
Q sentatives Of the special interests Il
Q recent years than any other govern
d ment bureau. These attacks have b
+ creased I'm violence and battogn09
fContiuued On PAGE Seyeu.l