The Ordway new era., 1909-03-05
HARD FIGHT ON
FORESTRY BILL
SENATE VOTES DOWN PROPOSED
$500 900 ADDITION TO THE
APPROPRIATION.
OTHER CHANGES LOST
STRONG INDICTMENT OF FoRES
TRY BUREAU SYSTEM BY
SENATOR TELLER.

Washingion.-Aftcr Il debate which
occupied practically the entire lcgisla-
tive day In the Senate, the opponents
of the national forestry administration
succeeded Friday night in defeating
the Senate committee amendment TO
the House bill adding $5oo,oOO to the
amount allowed by the House.
An Amendment offered by Hepburn
directing the Secretary Of Agriculture
10 restore to entry and eliminate from
the reserves all unrimbcrcd land in
Idaho was promptly accepted by Sen
atOr Warren. who was in charge OF
the bill, and who suggested including
all the states In the provision The
amendment was lost when a point Of
order was raised against 1t by Flint Of
California
Senator Warren also accepted for
The committee an amendment offered
by Senator Dixon to pay so per cent
OF the forest receipts To the states
containing the reserves. but this was
lost. Senator Teller making a point OF
order against II. Teller insisted that
all of the receipts should go TO the
states. and said that when he left the
Senate and commenced practicing law
he proposed to test the forest rcgula-
lions and rules in the courts.
During the discussion. Senator Tel
lcr called attention 10 the dcnunCia'
tions made against men who have cut
! timber on the public lands in mining
districts He declared the timber had
been cut legally and had yielded the
| government In precious mineral many
| times the value of the timber. He
| said he had drafted and procured the
passage of the act of 1878. which al
| lowed the people OF the West to do
what they had been doing without
any law in the cutting Of timber on
public land for mining camps.
The men who swept these hills
bare of timber" he said. were not
! public robbers. but they acted in ac-
cordance with statutes and they re
| turned to the government much more
| than the timber was worth. There
has been no wiful destruction of tim
Der in Colorado The people of that
state are more interested in the con
servation of their timber than any
people outside the state could posi-
| bly, be.
Condemning the forestry bureau sys-
TEN, MIR. Teller said. II "Pinchots plan
had been applied to Colorado during
the days of its development that state
would still be the home of the coyote.
the panther and the bear" The sys-
TEN, he said. was destroying the pros
poets for settlement in the future
Reforestration. he said, had been Il
| failure in Colorado. The farmers raise
more timber in that state than is rails
ed by the forest bureau.
Il would rather" he declared. nave
| an American home and an American
| family than to have forest as big as
| all out-of-doOrs. | do not believe there
Is a moral or any other claim upon me
to postpone the use of what nature has
given me-"
Mr.. Teller insisted that the predic-
tions concerning the exhaustion of the
coal supply are far from correct. Colo
RADIO alone he said. could supply the
world with coal for so to 200 years.
Mr.. Smoot defended the service. de-
claring that the cost of all lectures be-
fore various societies last year had
been only S5.O22 The lectures he re
garded as entirely justified.
EVERY time" he said, Information
is given about lengthenng the life of
railroad tie. the American people are
benefited"
Mr.. Smoot took up cases cited in
the Senate to show injustice and in so
doing became involved in contro'
versv with Senators Clark, Carter and
others.
Mr. Smoot said the forestry service
fire. patrol system had saved S34,oOO,'
900 worth of timber.
Senator Clark (Wyoming) declared
| that Mr. Smoot's system of estimating
fire losses was fallacious, as it was
based on the idea that fire once
started would burn until eXtinguished
by forester. whereas many of the
| fires even in the reserves are stopped
by settlers.
Senator Flint California; asserted
that in his state alone the losses in
the past year from forest fires would
have amounted to $20,00O,O00 if it had
not been for the eXertion of the for
eSters.
Measures that Failed.
Washington.-Earl in the Congress