Morris tribune., 1910-10-21

cultural purposes, while at the same
time reserving the coal for disposal
under the coal land laws, Congress, at
the last session, passed the act of
June %, 1910, which permits the entry
of the surface of such lands under the
homestead law, the reclamation law,
the desert law, and the Carey law, re-
serving from such entry the coal beds
underneath for disposal under the coal
land laws. The surface entryman can,
of course, if he so desires, purchase
the coal beneath the surface of his
land.
Many years ago it became evident that
our public forests were fast passing
into private ownership under our var
ious land laws and were being rapidly
and recklessly denuded. It became
important therefore to stem this tide,
and to take steps to preserve some
of our timber supply for future use.
To this end Congress passed the act
of March 8, 1891, authorizing the presi-
dent to withdraw, reserve and set
apart, such portions of our public lands
for forestry purposes as he deemed
advisable and to put the same into
forest reservations. Under this law,
chiefly during the administrations of
Presidents Roosevelt and Taft, up
wards of 150,000000 acres, exclusive of
Alaska have been withdrawn from en-
try and reserved and set apart into
national forest reserves, administered
by the Bureau of Forestry, in the De-
partment of Agriculture. The act of
1891 was supplemented by the act of
June 4, 1897, providing for the admin
c|, Nf thncn n nation al for
ests. Under this law, and subsequent
amendments, Mr.. Pinchot, late Chief
of the Forestry Bureau, successfully
organized and established a system of
forestry of care and conservation
which, on the whole, seems to work
fairly well, though it will undoubtedly,
from time to time, require changes
and notifications.
Some of our existing land laws are
far from satisfactory, and should be
either repealed or materially amended.
The timber and stone act should be
repealed; the coal land laws should
be greatly modified and amended, and
suitable laws should be provided for
the disposal of water power site lands,
and gas, oil and phosphate lands.
Much diversity of opinion upon these
subjects exist among the people of
the west, where most of these lands
are located, and therefore it is no
easy problem to secure appropriate
legislation in all these cases. In order
to give Congress ample opportunity to
act and in the meantime preserve the
lands for disposal under suitable and
appropriate legislation, Congress at
the last session passed the very i'm
pOrtant act of June 25, 1910-approved
the same day the twenty million dol
lar reclamation act, already referred to
was apprOved-authOrizing the presi-
dent to withdraw from all forms of
sale and entry any of the public lands
of the United States, and to reserve
the same for water power sites, irri-
cation, classification, or other public
purposes. Extensive Withdrawals, for
various purposes, had been made prior
to the enactment of this law, but some
question had been raised as to the
validity of some of them, and dispo-
sition had been manifested in some
quarters, notably in respect to the
of oil and gas lands, to
raise the question in the courts. This
act places the power of withdrawal be-
yond all question, and since this en-
actment President Taft, to make as
surance doubIy sure, has reWithdrawn
most of the land included within the
former Withdrawals, especially in the
cases where there could be any pos
sible question raised.
Conservation of Health.
Among other important laws. to
which l will in the bTiefest manner
call your attention, are the pure food
law, and the meat inspection law Of
1906-both urgently needed and COM
prehensive and far-reaching in their
character. The meat industry in all
its branches of purchasing, slaughter
ing, curing, packing, and selling, has
become an enormous industry, and has
passed into the hands of a few great
concerns, whose eagerness for profit
made them, to some extent, ObliviOus
to the proper and necessary sanitary
considerations, hence the necessity for
the law For many years food and
drug authorizations had been, more or
less, prolific, and was on the continued
increase. State legislation and regula-
tion, on account of our dual system of
government, proved insufficient and
hence, in order to reach the evil and
secure better protection for life and
health, 1t became necessary to pass a
Federal law that could reach into all
sections of the country.
Postal Savings.
Congress, also at it's last session,
passed the postal savings act. This
was great step in advance, and for
the first time gives our people the same
for accommodating their
small savings that people in monar-
chial countries have enjoyed for long
time with great advantage and bless
ing. Many of the bankers Of the coun-
try were opposed to this legislation
as they feared the system would dimin-
ish their deposits, and this opposi-
ton, to some extent, retarded the en-
actment of the law. But I think the
bankers were entirely mistaken. There
are among our people quite a number,
among certain classes of
foreign born citizens, accustomed to
postal savings systems in their ma
tive countries, who will not deposit |
IL