The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1910-08-30


to be anti-social, to be in any respect
hostile to the public good The nation
alone has the power to do this effec.
lively, and 1t is for this reason that
you will find these CORPORATIONS
which wish TO gain improper advant.
age and to be freed from efficient
control on the part OF the public,
doing all that they can TO secure the
substitution OF state for national ac.
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 corpora.
lions seeking the privileges OF de.
yelopihg the water power in any given
given state are at least as apt to be
owned outside the state as within it.
In this country, nowadays. capital has
q national and not a state use. The
great corporations which are man.
aged and largely owned in the older
state are those which are most in eel.
dence in developing and using the
mines and water powers and forests
OF the new territories and the new
states from Alaska to Arizona. ! nave
been genuinely amused during the
past two months at having argu.
ments presented to me on behalf of
certain rich men from New York and
Ohio, for instance, as to why Colo
RADIO 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 interests obscure their
sense of public need; and as their
object is to escape an efficient con.
troll, exercised in the interest of all
the people OF the country, they clamor
TO be put under the state instead OF
the nation. If we are foolish enough
to grant their requests, we shall have
ourselves to blame wnen we wake up
and find that we have permitted an.
other privilege to intrench itself and
another portion of what should be
kept for the public good to be turned
over to individuals for purposes of
private enrichment. During the last
session OF congress bills were intro.
duced to transfer the water power
sites in the national forests and the
public domain to the control of the
states. | cannot state too strongly
my belief that these measures are I'M |
wise and that it would be disastrous
to enact them into law. IN substance
their effect would be to free these
great special interests from all eff. |
fective control. The passage of such
a bill would be victory of the spec |
ial interests over the general welfare,
and long backward step down the !
hill OF progress we have OF late been
climbing.
"Our people have for many years
proceeded upon the assumption thatl
the nation should control the public
land. 1t Is to this assumption OIL
national outlook that we owe our
wisest land legislation from the
Homestead Law to the Irrigation Law
The wise use of our public domain
has always been conditioned upon
national action. The states can
greatly help, but the nation must take
the lead as regards the land as re- |
CARDS the forests ana waters; and per.
haps peculiarly In the case OF the
waters, because almost all streams
are really interstate streams.
Coal Lands.
The same principle applies with
peculiar force to the coal lands, and
especially to the coal lands In Alaska.
whose protection and ownership by |
the federal government, IS so neces-
sary. both for full free industrial de. |
yelopment In the west and for the
needs of our feet In the Pacific. The
coal mines should be leased, not sold, |
and those who mine the coal should
pay back part of the profit ito the
people. 1t is the right and duty OF |
the people to demand the most Wig
liant trusteeship on that part OF that