The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1910-08-29

ann un = As act IS heartily acknowI.
edged and acted upon by both courts
and legislative bodies. national and
state alike, the interest of the people
will suffer.
heartily approve Of state action where
under our form Of government the
state. aud the state only. has the
power to act. cordially join with
those who desire to see the state.
within its own sphere. take the most
advanced position In regard to the
whole matter Of conservation.
I have taken exactly this attitude in
my own stn,e Of New York. Where
the state alone had power to act i
have done all could to get 1t to nc;
in the most advanced manner, and
where the nation could act I have
done all could to get national action
in the same direction.
Unfortunately in the east we have IL
this matter paid the penalty Of noi
having our forest land under nationa,
control, and the penalty has been Sc
we're. Most OF the states, although
they are old states. have not protected
their forests, each failing to act By
itself, because the action was really
the common concern Of all. and where
action Is the common concern Of all
experience has shown that 1t can only
be profitably undertaken by the Nil,
tional government.
As a result of the impossibility of
getting such wise action by the sew
eral state governments in the east we
are doing our best to get national leg
islation under which the national gov.
eminent, at the expense Of millions of
dollars, shall undertake to do as re-
CARDS the Appalachians and White
mountains Of the east what 1t is now
doing In the Rocky mountains here
out west.
Water Power.
Take the question of the control of
the water power sites. The enormous
importance of water power sites to
the future Industrial development of
within very few years. Unfortunate
" the realization has come too late as
regards many of the power sites. but
many yet remain with which our
hands are free to deal. We should
make 1t our duty to see that hereafte,
the power sites are kept under the con
troll Of the general government for the
use of the people as a whole.
The fee should remain with the peo-
pie as whole. while the use is leased
on terms which shall secure an ample
reward to the lessees, which shall ell
courage the development and use OF
the water power, but which shall not
create a permanent monopoly or per-
init the development to be anti-social.
to be in any respect hostile to the pub
lie good.
The nation alone has the power to
do this effectively. and it Is for this
reason that you will find those corpo-
rations which wish to gain improper
advantage and to be freed from eff
cient control on the part Of the public
doing all that they can to secure the
substitution Of state for national &C
ton.
There is something fairly comic in
the appeal made by many of these
men in favor of state control when
you realize that the great corporations
seeking the privileges of developing
the water power in any given state are
at least as apt to be owned outside
that state as within 1t. In this coun-
try nowadays capital has q national
and not a state use.
The great corporations which are
managed and largely owned in the
older states are those which are most
In evidence in developing and using
the mines and water powers and for.
ests Of the new territories and the new
states from Alaska to Arizona.
i have been genuinely amused dur
ing the past two months at having ar
guments presented to me on behalf Of
certain rich men from New York and
Ohio, for instance. as to why Colorado
and other Rocky mountain states
should manage their own water power
sites. Now. these men may be good
citizens according to their lights, but
naturally enough their special interest
obscures their sense Of the public need
and as their object is to escape an eff.
cient control. exercised in the interest
of all the people Of the country. they
clamor to L." rTt under the state in