The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1910-02-12
P|MCH0T As | CRITIC.
AS NEW PRESIDENT OF CONSER-
VATORS, HE SENDS IN RE-
REPORT.
Says 1t Contains No Sufficient Anti
monopoly Clause" and "One Nav
Be Evaded With Ease,

Tor the passage at the present session
of congress Of good laws for the pro-
lection Of the natural resources OF
the United States, is the keynote Of
q report just made to the National
Conservation Association by Clifford
Pinchot, the recently chosen presi-
dent Of the association.
| Mr.. Pinchot takes up in what he
calls "a spirit of constructive critic.
ism" the nine bills relating to the
conservation of natural resources in
troduced into congress on January IS
on behalf of the Secretary of the In.
terror, one of which has been report
ed from the Senate Public Lands
Committee. while the other eight are
still In the hands of the association
tn put forth strong efforts to have en-
acted into law the bill on the with
drawal OF public lands which has
been reported from the committee by
Senator Nelson, after it had been
amended as a result in part, at least,
Of conferences between the commit
tee and officers of the conservation
association. This bill, Mr.. Pinchot
thinks, should have the "unqualified
support of the members of the asso-
ciation"
OF the other eight bills he believes
that some merely require amendment,
while others must be recast altogeth-
e1. The coal ILL and the phospha:.
Oil, asphaltum and natural gas bill,
ne reports, are fundamentally sound
IN principle but need some amend
ment. They wisely separate, he says,
the surface of the land from the un-
derlying minerals and provide for the
disposal Of the minerals by lease and
not by sale.
But the coal bill, he objects, con-
tains no sufficient anti-monopoly
clause. The clause which purports
to regulate rates to be charged the
public is so framed that it may be
evaded with ease. Another clause of
the bill, he adds "may reduce the
standard of mining to the wasteful
level Of the prevailing commerce
practice"
In regard to the bill for The sur
vey of railroad land grants he ex-
presses the opinion that it will en-
able the railroads properly to per-
feet titles to their lands. "but it over
looks the long-pending understand
'-'g between certain of the roads and
the Forestry S'.rvice for the return IF
railroad lands within the national
forests to the United States in return
for the right to cut in one body an
amount of timber equal to that on the
lands returned" This understand
ing, he says, requires only legislation
to make it effective.
Speaking on the water-power bill
Mr.. Pinchot declares that 'it repeals
In silence the existing water-power
law and curtails the already ample
power now exercised, with the ap-
proval Of a former attorney general,
by the department Of agriculture.
The provision of the bill for the COM
pensation to the government by the
companies, he holds, is good. Wa
ter-power sites shuld be protected
from private appropriation under the
land laws, he says, and it should be
made possible to issue to the COM
panies permits good for and definite
ly terminating at the end of so years.
The fault found by Mr.. Pinchot
with the Reclamation bill is that It
opens reclaimed lands to absentee
landlords and to spectators
| The worst feature Of the bill for
the sale Of timber and timber lands.
ne declares, is that it replaces the OBJ
| Jectionable feature Of the Timber and
| stone act, which was the inducement
| to speculation in government timber.
with provisions which promote spec
ulation and retard the development
OF agricultural and mineral lands far
beyond the act it repeals.
In failing to separate the surface
from the underlying mineral the bill
for the classification of public lands
Is inconsistent with the Coal bill. he
finds
The Withdrawal bill as amended
and reported by Senator Nelson
makes easy says Mr.. Pinchot, "the |
protection of all natural resources on
the public domain until good laws
can be passed"
Inc whole influence Of the conser-
Vatlon association, he declares. should |
be thrown behind this bill.