The times-herald. [volume] (Burns, Harney County, Or.) 1896-1929, 1909-04-03
A REVERSAL.

raj resources of the country in a
perfectly safe, sane and conser-
vative" way, without impeding
in any way the development of
the resources of the great west
and without hysteria in one di-
rection or another. is to be the
policy of the interior department
under President Taft and Secre-
tary of the Interior Ballinger.
The big change in the land
Office is that there will be no
policy" Secretary Ballinger
will not admit that a policy is
necessary. He is going to en-
force the law. OF course, he's
going to enforce it differently
from the way in which it was en-
forced under Roosevelt, and here
comes the change.
But the change will not be ac-
complished at one fell swoop. 1t
will be slow and we'll considered
and each problem will be worked
out on its own merits. The Off
cials of the land office are of the
opinion that during the past sew
en- years there has been too much
Of the "whoop 'er up boys" busi-
ness in the conduct of the gener-
al landoffice and the soft petal is
on, and on to stay.
During the seven years that
Roosevelt occupied the White
House tract after tract of public
land was withdrawn from entry.
1t is said that a man could ride
from the Missouri river to the
Pacific ocean and his horse need
not once step a hoof outside
government land that has been
withdrawn temporarily from
entry. This does not include
Withdrawals of $50. 600, 600 acres
made for forest reserves. Ma
tional forests are not considered
public lands.
In most cases no reason was
given for the withdrawal Of the
public lands. During the last
year of his administration, how
ever, the reason became apparent.
The land was to be conserved. "
Asst now stands, in the states
and territories of the union, ex-
cepting Texas and Hawaii, where
public lands are under state con
troll their treaties of annexation,
there is now a total of but 754,-
1876, 296 acres Of public land not
appropriated end 1863, ,021, 500
acres of this is in Alaska. No
figures are available to describe
the character of this land but
more than half of it is mountain
Gus, desert, sagebrush or ice
fields. The most of it that does
not fall under one of these classi-
fications is conserved"
Secretary Ballenger thinks |
conservation means the preven-
ton of waste, and not the pre-
Of development.
Secretary Ballenger will not
talk about policies. :" He takes
the position that it is impossible
for an executive officer to map
out a policy, and then follow it
rigidly in every case that comes
up.
Each case will be given consid-
Grafton of itself. There will be
no relaxation in the prevention
of frauds. 1t will be as hard for
a dishonest entryman to acquire
public lands as it ever was in the
most strenuous days Of Roosevelt,
but the idea will always be in
mind that the land is for use.
But, as is very apt to happen
in a time of sweeping investiga-
tions, many Of the cases are not
good. In some of the cases that
nave been brought to trial there
was not enough TO support the
governments contention. The
Did condition, where suit
by the government was
as good as won the minute the
papers were filed, no longer ex-
SITS. These cases were brought
IN evidence gathered in some
.ases by secret service men mex
,erienced in land laws. The
secret service men were brought
n after Secretary Garfield had
cleaned out the dishonest land
and before the very