Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1909-11-30
"""> -''f'h7 A}ay1uN as.y.,
BALE|NGER HAS
COMPLETED HIS
annual /. REPORT
DEvIsEs METHODS OF coNsER-
vA'oN OF. NATURAL. RE- m
SOURCES.
HAS MANY PLANS FOR THE BET
TERMENT OF HI DEPART
MENT. ~,
LOOKS ON THE COAL LANDS AS
THE MOST. VALUABLE As
SET OF NATION. -.

for one of exploitation, by which our
citizens were encouraged to develop
the mineral and agricultural resour-
ces of the public domain on condition
of receiving limited areas at a nom1-
nal cost. For similar reasons, rail-
way and wagon-road grants were lib
orally donated by congress in order
to add facilities for the opening up OF
these almost inaccessible regions.
The railway grants generally were
limited to nonmineral lands, except
such as contained coal and iron,
which latter minerals were taken TO
be essential for railway construction
and operation. New States were,
when admitted, literally endowed
with public lands for school and other
purposes; so that, out of a public DO
main in 1860 of Loss, 911 ,288 acres
ALASKA then not belonging to the
United States), we now have only
about 731 ,354,081 acres, confined
largely to the mountain ranges and
the arid and semiarid plains, except
lands within some Of the Indian res
ervations and the 368,035, 1915 acres OF
undisposed of land in Alaska.
ALI of the principal land statutes
were enacted over TWENTY-FIVE years
ago: the homestead act, the pre-
emption and the 5timberculture act,I
the coal-land, and the mining acts
for the aid of. the Industrious pros
pector, were among the earlier acts
of this nature. !;
The liberal and rapid disposition
of the public lands under these stat
utes and the lax methods of admin
istration which for long time pre-
vailed naturally provoked the, feeling
that the public domain was leg1tl:
mate prey for the interruptions ana
and that it was no Crime TO- Vlolate
or circumvent the land laws. 1t is
to be regretted that we, as a nation,
were so tardy to realize the import
ance Of preventing 50 large q meas
IRE of our natural resources passing
into the hands of land pirates and
sneculators, with no view to develop
n1ent looking to the national welfare.
II NAV be safely said that millions
oP acres of timber and other lands
have been unlawfully obtained, and
81 Is also true that actions to recover
such lands have in most instances
long since been barred by the stat-
ute of Limitations. The prlncrpai
awakening to our wasteful course
came under your predecessors ad-
noinistration. The bold and vlgor-
ous prosecutions of land frauds,
thro,,gh Secretaries Hitchcock ana
Garfield, have restored sanitary
respect for the law, and the puolie
mind has rapidly grasped tne lmPol-
lance of safeguarding the 1urEher JUS
nosition of our natural resources III
the public lands in the interest," Oh
the public good as against private
creed. Notwithstanding this II IS
necessary, to continue with utmost
vigor. through all ara11able sources
me securing of information OF vlola-.(
lions Of the public land laws ana -
follow such violations with rigid pro-
solutions. :: ,;,
In this present policy of conserving
~, - natural resources Of the pubic
!, dn,na;n. while development is the
Eevnote, the best thought5of the day.
&C. not that (1evelopmen t Shall be Dy
national agencies, but that wise utll-
;zation shall be secured through prl-
vata, enterprise under national super
vision and control. Therefore, II
material progress Is to be made IN Sc
q curinrzthe bestsuse Of our remaining
nuhl,c lands, congress must be call
ed ,1por, to enact remedial legaslati On. 4
GIassification Of Public lands IlI
order that intelli gent administ alton
shall Be applied IN the dispositto Oh
the public lands. It is essential thatI
1 thav be classffle into various clearly
defined divisions according 70 their
principal yalue OF use. They have
generally been classified IN legfsIa-l
/ fipn as agricultural, mine ral, desert Il
timber. and coal lands, and y ~ only "a
IN recent years that the interior DEL
partment, through the geological sur
svey. has undertaken to make tnis
classffication In the field In the AID q
a the administration Of these pubic. 4!
1ands statutes, and then only through
the general authority given IN the
organization Of this bureau. Specifc
legislative authority hould be given
the department to classify and segre-s
gate our public lands into Weil-efe mn
Cd divisions according TO their great.
/ at apparent use, with the continuing E
mower &c reclassifi cation to meet
changing conditions and the increas-
81 knowIedge Df their character
which may necessitate the transfer o.