Los Angeles herald., 1910-09-06

reclamation fund is $60273, ,25S22, and
of that all but $S,491,9 ,955.34 has peen
expended. 1t became very clear to
congress at it's last session, from the
statements made by experts, that these
thirty projects could not be promptly
completed with the balance remaining
on hand or with the funds likely TO
accrue in the near future. 1t was
found, moreover, that there are many
settlers who have been led into taking
I'M lands with the hope and under
standing of having water furnished IN
q short time who are left In most
distressing situation. l recommended
to congress that authority be gwen TO
the secretary of the interior TO issue
bonds in anticipation of the assured
earnings by the projects, SO that tne
nroiecfs. worthy and feasible, might
he promptly completed and the settlers
might be relieved from their present
Inconvenience and hardship. In au-
thorizing the issue of these bonds CON
gress limited the application OF thelr
proceeds to those projects which
board of army engineers, TO be ap-
pointed by the president, should eX-
anime and determine to be feasible
and worthy of completion. The board
has been appointed and soon Will make
it's report. 49,
"By mineral lands 1 mean those
lands bearing metals, or what are
called metalliferous minerals. The
rules of ownership and disposition OF
these lands were first fixed by custom
in the west and then were embodied
in the law, and they have worked, on
the whole, so fairly and well that | do
not think it is wise now to attempt to
change or better them. The apex the
ory of tracing title to a lode has led
to much litigation and dispute, and
ought not to have become the law, but
it is so fixed and understood now that
the benefit to be gained by change is
altogether outweighed by the incon-
venience that would attend the intro
duction of a new system.
FOREST LANDS
Nothing can be more important in
the matter of conservation than the
treatment of our forest lands. 1t was
probably the ruthless destruction of
forests in the older states that first
called attention to a halt in the waste
of our resources. This was recOg-
nized by congress by an act authorlz-
ing the executive to reserve from en-
try and set aside public timber lands
as national forests. Speaking general
ly, there has been reserved Of the ex-
listing forests about 70 per cent of all
the timber lands Of the government.
Within these forests Gncluding &c.
00O, 600 acres in two forests in Alaska)
are 192,000,000 Of acres, of which 1885,,
O00, 900 of acres are in the United
States proper and include within their
boundaries something like 22,000,00O
of acres that belong to the state or to
private individuals. We have then,
excluding Alaska forests, a total OF
about 144,000.000 acres of forests be-
longing to the government which is
being treated in accord with the priu-
ciples of scientific forestry The law
now prohibits the reservation of any
ton. Idaho, Montana, Colorado and
wyoming. except by act of congress.
IT am informed by the department
of agriculture that the government
owns other tracts of timber land in
these states which should be included
in the forest reserves. I expect to
recommend to congress that the limita-
tion herein imposed shall be repealed.
In the present forest reserves there are
lands which are not properly forest
land and which ought to be subject to
homestead entry.
'"The government timber in this
country amounts to only one-fourth of
all the timber, the rest being in private
ownership. Only per cent of that
which is in private ownership is looked
after properly and treated according to
modern rules Of forestry. The usual
destructive waste and neglect con-
tinue in the remainder Of the forests
owned by private persons and corpora
tions. It is estimated that fire alone
destroys $50, 1000 worth of timber a
year. The management OF forests not