The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1910-03-14
NO HARMONY IN
CONSERVATION
.-
Western Senator'S Have Stony
Road to Travel in Reaching
Agreement

from public land states who were ap-
pointed special committee to pre-
pare conservation bills along lines
that would harmonic the laws, are
finding that the road that they must
traverse is far from an easy one. A
number of bills ARE before the COM
mittee, but it is giving its attention
principally to the measure known as
the classification bill. The commit
tee is composed of Senators Smoot of
Utah, Clark of Wyoming and Dixon of
Montana, Republicans, and Hughes of
Colorado and Chamberlain of Oregon,
Democrats. A majority of them are
known to be favorable to the general
theory of conservation. Senators
Clark and Hughes, however, are an
tagonistic to the proposed change of
the public land policy.
The testimony before the Ballinger-
Pinchot investigation committee has
disclosed the fact that the general
land Office; forest service, reclamation
service and geological survey are not
operahn0 in sympathy. and this
makes the work of the conservation
committee all the more difficult. 1t is
their opinion that II the classification
and the withdrawal bill can be passed,
the way will be easy for other meas
ures, which in the main look to the
disposal of the lands under the classi-
fication bill.
The principal obstacles in the way
to an agreement on the classification
bill are found in the provisions re-
lating to oil lands and water power
sites. This bill authorizes the secre-
tary Of the interior to classify all the
public lands. as agricultural irrigable.
non-irrigahle. grazing, dry farming.
coal, oil. gas, asphaltum and water
power lands.
Many senators contend it would be
quite impossible to classify oil lands
in advance, and Senators who hold
this view are making trouble for the
committee. The committee itself ap-
preciates this difficulty, and there is a
growing tendency towards a provision
for the leasing rather than the sale
of lands supposed to cover oil de-
posits. II the bill should be framed
in accordance with this idea. any per-
son could lease a tract of lands and
put down his we'll. and if successful
in finding oil, could then acquire the
land under the mining laws.
The subject of water power sites
has been made the basis of many con-
ferences, not only among senators,
but with the executive branch of the
government as we'll. Owing to the
fact that the states control the
streams it is everywhere recognized
as difaPlt for the government to con-
tinue its supervision of the lands inn
mediately bordering the streams, as
power sits necessarily must. On this
account the senate seems favorably
disposed towards the grant of the
power sites to the several states, and
it is believed that tie administration
may be induced to cohsent to this dis
position of them if sufficient restric-
tions of the grant are provided for.
The withdrawal bill is giving the
committee almost as much concern as
the classification bill. notwithstand-
ing it is now on the senate calendar.
Favorable action OIL that measure is
really necessary before a, classifica-
tion law could be carried into effect.
Its language is so broad that it au-
thorizes the president to withdraw
practically all of the public lands at
his discretion. The measure speci-
fies the purposes for which the lands
may he reserved as forestry water
power sites. irrigation, classification
of lands or other public purposes. T"
There will be no effort to pass this
bill until the terms of the classifica-
tion bill are agreed upon and the two
probably will be considered consecu-
tivo1v