The Green Forest tribune., 1910-09-09
STRONGLY FUR CONSERVATION
President Taft's Address Before
 Congress at St. Paul.
DANGER IN CONTINUED WASTE
Chief Executive Outlines Plans Which He Believes Should Be Adopted Statistics Make Speech Con-
 prehensive to Hearers

l.. Taft delivered his long-expected speech before the National Con- servation congress here today. Sub stantially it was as follows:
 Gentlemen of the National Conservation Congress:
 Conservation as an economic and po- titcal term has come to mean the preser- vation of our natural resources for economical use, so as to secure the great est good to the greatest number. The danger to the state and to the peo- pie at large from the waste and disspa- lion of our national wealth Is not one which quickly impresses itself on the peo- ple of the older communities. because its most obvious instances do not occur in their neighborhood, while In the newer part of the country the sympathy with expansion and development Is so strong ehat the danger Is scoffed at or ignored. Among scientific men and thoughtful ob- servers, however, the danger has always been present; but 1t needed some one to bring home the crying need for remedy of this evil so as to impress itself on the public mind and lead to the formation of public opinion and action by the repre- sentatives of the people. Theodore Roose- welt took up this task in the last two years of his second administration, and well did he perform 1t.
 As president of the United States I have, as it were, inherited this policy, and I rejoice in my heritage 1 prize my high opportunity to do all that an ex- ecutive can do to help a great people realize a great national ambition. For conservation is national It affects every man of us, every woman, every child. What I can do in the cause I shall do, not as president of a party, but as presi- dent of the whole people. Conservation is not a question of politics, or of fac dons, or of persons. It Is a question that affects the vital welfare of all of us-of eur children and our children's children. l urge that no good can come from meet fngs of this sort unless we ascribe to ehose who take part in them, and who are apparently striving worthily in the . cause, all proper motives, and unless we judicially consider every measure or method proposed with a view to it's effec- ttiveness in achieving our common pur- pose, and wholly without regard to who proposes 1t or who will claim the credit for its adoption. The problems are of very great difficulty and call for the calmest consideration and dearest fore sight. Many of the questions presented have phases that are new in this coun- try. and it Is possible that in their solu- ton we may have to attempt first one way and then another What I wish to emphasize. however. Is that satisfac- tory conclusion can only be reached promptly If we avoid acrimony, imputa- tons of bad faith, and political contro- versy.
 The public domain of the government sf the United States, including all the sessions from those of the thirteen states ehat made sessions to the United States and including Alaska, amounted in all to about 1.800, 900 acres. Of this there is left as purely government property out side of Alaska something like 700 000. 900 of acres. Of this the national forest re- serves in the United States proper em- brace IA 900. 600 acres. The rest Is largely mountain or arid country, offering some opportunity for agriculture by dry farm ing and by reclamation, and containing metals as we'll as coal. phosphates, oils, and natural gas Then the government owns many tracts of land lying along the margins of streams that have water power, the use of which Is necessary In the conversion of the power into cleo tricity and it's transmission.
 l shall divide my discussion under the heads of CD agricultural lands; @ min eral lands-that is, lands containing metalliferous minerals; (3) forest lands; @ coal lands; (5) oil and gas lands; and ee) phosphate lands.
 Agricultural Lands.
 Our land laws for the entry of agricul- tural lands are now follows:
 The original homestead law, with the requirements of residence and cultivation Tor five years, much more strictly en- forced than ever before.
 The enlarged homestead act, applying 70 nonirrigable lands only, requiring five years residence and continuous cultiva- uon Of one-fourth of the area.
 The desert-land act which requires on the part of the purchaser the ownership a ar iohf nd n1or, ton of the land by irrigation. and the payment of s1.25 per acre.
 The donation or Carey act. under which the state selects the land and provides Tor It's reclamation, and the title vests in the settler who resides upon the land and cuitivates 1t and pays the cost of the reclamation.
 The national reclamation homestead law, requiring five years residence and cultivation by the settler on the land ir rigated by the government and payment Dy him to the government of the cost of the reclamation
 The present congress passed a bill of sreat importance, severing the ownership or coal by the government in the ground rom the surface and permitting home stead entries upon the surface of the iaho, which, when perfected, give the settler the right to farm the surface, while the coal beneath the surface Is re- "iieu III oWnerSh1p by the government ana may be disposed of by 1t under other laws
 Ihere Is no crying need for radical re- form in the methods of disposing of what are really agricultural lands The pres ehe laws have worked we'll The en- idrged homestead law has encouraged the successful farming of lands in the semi ailu regions Of course the teachings of .he agricultural department as to how t,ese subarid lands may be treated and tne soil preserved for useful culture are VI the very essence of conservation. Then conservation of agricultural lands is snown In the reclamation of arid lands py Irrigation and I should devote a few Moros to what the government has done ana is doing in this regard
 RecIam ation.
 By the reclamation act a fund has been Sieated of the proceeds of the public iahos or the United States with which to o"hstruct works for storing great bodies VI water at proper attitudes from which, oy suitable system of canals and ditch
 s, the water is to be distributed over the .'ia and subarid lands of the government ~ pc sold to settlers at price sufficient . .o pay for the Improvements. Primarily, .he pro]ects are and must be for the i'm pIoVement of public lands. Incidentally. wnere private land is also within reach
 '"e water supply, the furnishing at