Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-09-07
gAELSON RAVENS LAM AClS
Minnesota Senator Says Each Citizen
Should Aid in Conservation.
MORE LAWS FOR COAL LANDS
} says No Systematic Effort Made to
Preserve Forests .Jntii 1891 and
Again Attempted Six
. Years Later.
MORE LAWS FOR COAL LANDS

PAUL. MINI. Sept. 6-Senator knute
,..son OF Minnesota prefdced a careful
review q public land acts by the state
ment that the natural resources OF the
country should be conserved By the indI-
vldual. the state and the naton-tne
farmer, his soil, the state It's lands. It's
forests and It's waters, and the federal
government the resources Of its mines, its
forests and its lands with their a,purte-
rances.
Touching on coal lands Senator Nelson
said z urther legislation is urgently
needed in respect to the disposal Of our
coal lands. II the policy Of selling the
land is to be continued not only should the
system Of appraisal, now in vogue, be adj
hered to. but provision should be made to
protect the people-tne consumer-against
monopolies and combinations in restraint
OF trade and AGAINST unreasonable and eX-
orbtant prices Many good men, however
who have given the subject great consid-
GRAFTON, believe in and favor well guarded
system OF leasing Instead OF sale Their
contention Is that under a leasing system
a more careful and less wasteful system
OF mining Will be pursued and that bet
ter protection can be thereby secured for
the miner, the consumer, and the govern
= mCnt. 1 am not prepared to take issue
with this contention"
Mr.. Nelson spoke Of the recent executive
order of President Tart, Withdrawing all
coal lands in Alaska from location, sale
and entry. This withdrawal by President
TAFT, he said, was no doubt made in pur-
suance of recent LEGISLATION by congress and
for the purpose OF giving congress an OPP
portunity to enact better and more suitable
coal land laws for Alaska than those now
In, 4
gently needed.
Abiding TO forest reserves, Senator Mel
son referred In words Of praise to clifford
Pihchot. He said that there was no syste-
matte effort to preserve the forests until
1891. and again In 1897 He said
mo land legislation in recent times has
been productive of such benefcent and far
reaching blessing as forestry legisla-
e-~tion, While occasionally there has been a
little grumbling and friction on the part
of settlers and cattlemen as to the admin
istrauon Of the law in some of it's details
yet II can be fairly said. when It is borne
In mind that 1t is new system that has
been initiated, that there has been little, Il
any, valid ground for serious criticism OF
complaint. The conduct of a few over
jealous forest rangers and OF a few over
strenuous settlers and cattlemen ought no
to initiate against the value and useful
ness of the forestry system as whole anC
in its entirety"
The speaker expressed approval of tn
withdrawal of water-power sites from ev
cry form of disposal under lands acts. Com
ing to the yexed point as to the legalit!
of state or federal control, he said tina
men versed in the law held that while tn
federal government has all of the rights o
a riparian owner, the states control tn
actual water. 1T seems to me-" he said
but perhaps I may err-that the problem
\ of developing and utilizing water-power Il
such cases can only be properly solved b!
the cooperation Of the state and fedora
governments. The one owning the powe
site and the other the water In the stream
x 1t strikes me that cooperation in such
case is essential and furnishes the onl
practical solution"