Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1910-01-14
rn1rsRnpuB1aoAN MARsHA11rowz IOWA JANUARY H. 1910
Taft Urges La1Us to Conserve
Forests, Po1uer Sites and Soils.

Washington, Jan. IA. - President
Taft's special message on conservation
Of natural resources, sent to congress
today, is as follows:
To the senate and house of repre-
sentatives: In my annual message I
reserved the subject of the conserva-
ton of our natural resources for dis
cussion in special message.
In 1860 we had a public domain of
1865, 911.2SS acres. We have now ISL
354,OS1 acres, confined largely to the
mountain ranges and the arid and semi
arid plans. We have, in addition $685.
035,975 acres of land in Alaska.
Lands Not Public Prey.
The public lands were, during the
earliest administrations, treated as a
national asset for the liquidation of the
public debt and as source of reward
for our soldiers and sailors. Later on
they were donated in large amounts in
aid of the construction of wagon roads
and railways, in order to open UP re-
gions in the west then almost inaccessi-
BILE. All the principal land statutes
were enacted more than quarter of
century ago. The homestead act, the
presumption and timber culture act,
the coal land and the mining acts were
among these. The rapid disposition of
the public lands under the early stat
utes, and tine lax methods of distri-
button prevailing, due. 1 think to the
belief that these lands should rapidly
pass into private ownership, gave rise
to the impression that the public do
main was legitimate prey for the I'M
scrupulous. and that It was not con-
trary to good morals to circumvent the
land laws. This prodigal manner of
disposition resulted in the passing of
large areas of valuable land and many
of our national resources into the
hands of persons who felt little or no
responsibility for promoting the ma
tional welfare thru their development
The truth is that title to millions of
acres of public lands was fraudulently
obtained, and that the right to recover
a large part of such lands for the gov
eminent long since ceased by reason OF
lstatutes of limitation.
Following RooseveIt's Plan.
There has developed in recent years
a deep concern in the public mind re-
specting the preservation and proper
use of our natural resources. This has
been particularly directed toward the
conservation of the resources of the
public domain.
The problem is how to save and how
to utilize, how to conserve and still
to develop; for no sane person can
contend that it is for the common good
that natures blessings are only for I'M
born generations.
Among the most noteworthy reforms
initiated by my distinguished predeces-
sor were the vigorous prosecution of
land frauds and the bringing to public
attention of the necessity for preserv-
ing the remaining public domain from
further spoilation, for the maintenance
and extension of our forest resources
and for the enactment of laws amend
ing the obsolete statutes so as to retain
governmental control over that part OF
the public domain in which there are
valuable deposits of coal. of oil. and OF
phosphate, and, in addition thereto. to
preserve control, under conditions fav-
orable to the public, of the lands along
thes treams in which the fall of watel
can be made to generate power to be
transmitted in the form of electricit,
many miles to the point of it's use
3 Fraud Cases Prosecuted.
The Investigations into violations O.
s the public land laws, and the prosecu.
D ton of land frauds have been vigor-
ously continued under my administra
: ton, as has been the withdrawal o
8 coal lands for classification and valua.
ton, and the temporary Withholding o
q power sites.
,,,;% ~,
a drawals of power sites have been mad
Y on 102 streams, and these Withdrawals
: therefore cover 229 per cent NOR
streams than were covered by tn
: withdrawals made prior to that date.
The present statutes, except so IA
y as they dispose of the precious metals
and the purely agricultural lands. arr
not adapted to carry out the modern
view of the best disposition of public
Hands to private ownership, under con
= ditions offering on the one hand suffi
: Gent inducement to private capital t.
x take them over for proper development
with restrictive conditions on the othe
which shall secure to the public tina
character of control which will proven
a monopoly or misuse of the lands O
Il their products
Would CLASSIFY LANDS.
One of the most pressing needs in tn
matter of public land reform is tina
lands should be classified according t.
their principal value or use. Th
ought to be done by that department
whose force is best adapted to tina
work. 1t should be done by the inter
Tor department thru the geological sur
vey. Much of the confusion, fraud, ant
contention which has existed in tn
past has arisen from the lack of al
4 official and determinative classified
4 ton of the public lands and their con
tents.
1t is now proposed to dispose of ag
ricultural lands as such, and at TIN
same time to reserve for other dis
position the treasure of coal, oil, as
phaltum, natural gas, and phosphat
contained therein. This may be hes
accomplished by separating the RICH
to mine from the title to the surface
giving the necessary use of so mucl
of the latter as may be required for tn
extraction of the deposits. The surfac
might be disposed of as agriculture
land under the general agricultural
statutes, while the coal or other min
eral could be disposed of by lease Of
a royalty basis, with provisions re
curing a certain amount Of develop
ment each year; and in other to pre-