Evening journal., 1910-01-14
TAFT URGES CARRYING OUT
OF CONSERVATION PROGRAM
Wants Congress TO Proceed Without Waiting For Out
Come of BaIIinger-Pinchof Fight, Asks That
Power Sites be Safeguarded and $30,00O,-
600 Spent TO Complete Projects.
FAVORS APPROPRIATIONS FOR
CENTRAL WESTERN WATERWAYS

, make such Withdrawals.
The separation of the right to mine,
from the agricultural rights, on the
public lands, and the disposition OF
these rights separately is also recon-
mended. The President says the
Geological Survey should be empower
| ed TO classify all lands according to
their principal value.
The message urges a $4,000, 900 bond
issue to continue the reclamation work
in the West and gives high praise to
the men engaged in the projects.
An experimental reforestation at the
head Of navigable streams by the
Forest Service is recommended, and a
new law is urged for the disposition OF
timber on small areas not included
I'm the national forests.
On the subject of inland waterways
the President comes out fatty in favor
of the Mississippi Ohio, and Missouri
River improvements recommending
that Congress include an appropriation
for carrying on the work in the river
and harbor bill. He approves a nine
foot channel in the Ohio from Pitts
burg TO Cairo: a six-foot channel in
the upper Mississippi from St. Paul TO
st. Louis; and the Missouri from
Kansas City TO st. Louis six feet, and
from st. Louis to Carlo, eight feet.
The Message.
The message in part follows:
To the Senate and House Of Representa-
tives:
''In my annual message reserved the
subject of the conservation OF our national
resources for discussion in a special mes
sage. as follows:
I'm several departments there is pre-
sented the necessity for legislation looking
to the further conservation Of our nation
al resources. and the subject is one OF
such importance as to require more de-
tailed and extended discussion than car
be entered upon I'm thi communication,
For that reason / shall take an early op-
portunity to send a special message tc
Congress on the subject OF the improve
ment Of our waterways; upon the recia-
nation and irrigation OF arid. semiarid
and swamp lands; upon the preservation
OF our forests and the reforesting OF suit
able areas; upon the reclassifcation OF the
public domain with view of separating
from agricultural settlement mineral
coal, and phosphate lands and sites be
longing 10 the Government bordering Of
streams suitable for the utilization Of
water power
I IN 1850 we had public domain of l,o55'-
s11. .2ss acres We have now 7sLS5i0S1 acres
confined largely to the mountain ranges
and the arid and semiarid plains. We
have. in addition. ssS,O35.975 acres Of land
IN Alaska.
'srhe public lands we're, during the ear
Hest administrations. treated as a national
asset for the liquidation of the public debt
! and as a source of reward for our soldiers
and sailors. Later on they we're donated
in large amounts in aid Of the construc-
tion OF wagon roads and railways, in or
der to open up regions in the West then
almost inaccessible. All the principal land
statutes we're enacted more than a quar-
ter Of a century ago. The homestead act,
the pre-emption and timber-culture act.
the coal land and the mining acts were
among these. The rapid disposition Of the
public lands under the early statues. and
the lax methods of distribution prevailing,
due ! think, TO the belief that these lands
should rapidly pass into private owner
ship. gave rise to the impression that the
public domain was legitimate prey for the
interruptions, and that It was not con-
trary 10 good morals to clrcumvent the
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