The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-03-17
.}ALL|NGER TALKS b ON CONSERVATION The Secretary Says Only Wise ...- Methods Appeal to Him RADICALS CRITICISED MT. BalIineer Declares That the Coun- try's Resources Are Not Giving Out
 But They Will Last for Many
 Thousand More Years

he is "as ardent an advocate of wise con- servation as the most radical, but it must be wise conservation to appeal to me-" Secretary of the Interior Ball finger today spoke before the Minne- sota Conservation and Agricultural De- velopment congress. MT. Ballinger was applauded by the delegates when he stated it was the object of the admin istration to put homes into the hands of as many citizens as possible.
 A Secretary Ballinger declared himself N out of sympathy with those radicals < who fear that all natural resources are ' being used up without any considera- tion for future generations.
 "Our country" he said, 'is the rich est of all in natural resources. It's soil, its minerals. its coal, its iron, its gran ite, it's limestone, It's water power and its climate possesses immeasureable wealth. and, if properly utilized, con- tain sufficient resources to care for all probable increase In the population of our country in the years to come" He said that while ''the doctrinaires figure that the coal deposits of the United States and Alaska will be ex- hausted in & period of about 100 years, the fact is that, according to the pro- duction of coal in the United States at the close of 1903, only 04 of 1 per cent of the original supply of coal had been exhausted, leaving as the ap- parent supply still available 99.6 per cent of the original supply. or coal enough to last, as some claim, for a period of 1000 years"
 Long Indifference
 After long indifferences on the part of the people as to the public domain" he declared. "a deep concern has sud- denly arisen respecting the remnant of the national estate. with a wh oily ex- aggerated notion of what should be done with 1t by the government. There Is much talk about the conservation of our national resources and nebulous theories that sound good to the ear, but are impossible of practical appli cation to existing conditions, are ad- vanced. Between the hysteria that ex- ists on the one side and the tendency to despoil the public domain on the other. we will, 1t Is hoped, be able to find the true policy of the government"
 He expressed the opinion that "a | greater obligation rests upon the states | than upon the general government to inaugurate laws to prevent waste in | the utilization of national resources There has been a grossly exaggeratee notion among some people. he declared. as to what the general government can do in conserving the natural resources that lie in the deposits of minerals and are contained in the soils and the streams. For the most part he point ed out. they have passed into private owenrship and are under the municipal ownership of the states.
 Burden of Conservation
 "It seems to me-" he continued that we should not try to impose the whole burden of conservation on the gen eral government but leave it to tn states and to the municipalities to work out, except insofar as national in- terference is necessary to protect na- tional interests; and want to be ,fn derstood as opposed to the theory tha because the state has not exercised to the full its powers in the matter of reforms, ipso facto. the national gov ernment must exercise them."
 The national government, he said, cannot "enter the sta te and dictate the means or method of the development of its streams and rivers except insofar as their navigation is concerned" Wise Aconservation. in his opinion, implied as Iuff dHu Tree ueNelOpuleHt or our natural resources as is consistent with our civilization and needs"
 But we must not forget" he as- serted that we are not through with the policy of development. of building . up new communities and settlements, even in far-off Alaska. We have not reached that period where we can say the remainder of our public lands shall be auctioned off to the highest bidder to increase the revenues of the na- tional treasury. They must still be used as inducements to increase thrifty settlements and provide new homes to landless settlers and to promote com- merce and industrial pursuits in the most remote regions of the west.
 "What the public domain needs today is speedy survey of all available areas for settlement; an adequate and scientific classification of the remaind CT of the public lands and such legisla- ton as will enable determination of all private entries and rights in the interest Of the bona fde claimant with out unreasonable delay, and, above all, protection against the monopolization or waste of our natural resources"
 Mr. Ballinger declared that the pres ent laws and methods of disposal of deposits of coal, phosphates. oil and natural gas are utterly impractical, either from the standpoint of the To- cator or that of the government, '.and no adequate method exists he added efor controlling or supervising hydro electric power produced from power plants installed on government water power sites. No man or set of men can comply with the present law and finace . coal mine on the public domain on <<E lx,x~ ax-{v