The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1910-09-07
WESTERN Governors BOLT
CONSERVATION CONGRESS
Declare They Have Been i" Cold Decked Again and
Pnchot and Following Have Control. J. Hill and
Secretary Wilson Were the Principal Orators of the
Day and Advocated Matt onal Conservation.

Practically eliminated as a force in
the national conservation congress
the fighting contingent" as they
are known, consisting of the western
governors, left St. Paul in huff.
The governors of the western
states, consisting of Gov. M. E. Hay,
Governor Norris of Montana, Gov
ernor Brooks of Wyoming and Gov
ernor Vessey of South Dakota, be-
lieve that their usefulness as state
conServatiOnists has come to an end,
and that they can be of no further
use at the convention.
Each governor put forth cheerful
front before the assemblage, but the
effort was almost dismal failure.
Governor Norris, before leaving for
his own state, exclaimed that the
western contingent could not break
into that meeting with burglar
Jimmy"
The militant governor of Kansas
was the first to put crimp into Gov
ernor Hay, when he told the Wash
ington governor yesterday that Bal
linger was not a fit administration
man.
The other governors are feeling
as badly as Hay and have given up
the fight in disgust.
The sessions of the National Con-
servation congress was well attended
today and notable among the speak
ers were J. J. Hill, president of the
Great Northern railway, and Secre-
tary of Agriculture Wilson. There
was a great deal of enthusiasm and
some spirited discussions on the the
cries advocated.
j. j. Hill on Practical Conservation.
James J. Hill, addressing the con-
scranton congress today on 'Prac-
tical Conservation, said in part:
Belief in comprehensive system
of conservation of all resources has
now taken possession of the public
mind What remains to be done is
that most difficult of all the tasks
of statesmanship-the application of
an accepted principle and making it
conform in all it's general outlines to
the common good.
ITO pack the fact into a single
statement, the need of the hour and
the end to which this congress should
devote itself is to conserve cOnserva-
ton. 1t has come into that peril
which no great truth escapes-the
danger that turks in the house of it's
friends. 1t has been used to forward
that serious error of policy, the ex-
tension of the powers and activities
of the national government at the ex-
pense of those of the states. The
time is ripe and this occasion is most
fitting for distinguishing between
real and fanciful conservation, and
for establishing sound relation of
means to ends.
I'VE should first exclude certain
activities that come only indirectly
under the term conservation" The
reclamation service is one. It's work
is not preservation, but utilization.
The arid lands of this country have
been where they now are, the streams
has flowed past them uselessly ever
since Adam and Eve were in the gar
den of Eden. Irrigation was prac-
ticed in prehistoric time. What we
have to do is to bring modern meth
DDS to the aid of one of the Oldest
agricultural arts. 1t is mentioned
here because its progress illustrates
the dangers that beset conservation
projects proper.
They are dangers inseparable
| from national control and conduct OF
affairs. The machine is too big and
too distant; it's operation is slow
cumbrous and costly. So slow is il
that settlers are waiting in distress
for water promised long ago. Sc
faulty has been the adjustment OF
time and money that congress has
had to authorize the issue of $780,
100000 of national obligations tC
complete projects still hanging in the
air. So expensive is it that estimates
have been exceeded again and again
The settler had had either to pay
more than the cost figure he relied
on or seek cheaper lands in Canada
1t costs the government from SO pei
cent more to twice as much as il
would private enterprise to put wa
ter on the land. Under the Lower
Yellowstone project the charge Ii
$42.5O per acre, and one dollar pei
acre annually for maintenance. The
Sunnyside project carries charge OF
$50 per acre, and 95 cents mainten-
ance. Under the North Platte pro.
ject the charge is $45 per acre, plus
| a maintenance charge not announced
These projects, in widely separated
localities, entail a land charge pro.
hibitive to the frontier settlers te
proyide homes for those for whom
this work was believed to have been
undertaken. The pioneer settler who