The Oskaloosa herald., 1910-03-17
DOMAIN
CONSERVATION
Secretary BalIinger Addresses Min
nesota State Convention.
THE STATES ARE SOVEREIGN
Greater Obligation Rests Upon the
State Than the National Gov.
eminent to Prevent Waste
of Natural Resources.

st. Paul, March 16.-Special by Uni
ted Press Association: In an address
to-day before the Minnesota State
Conservation Convention, Secretary of
the Interior Ballinger gave his inter-
probation of the national obligations
regarding the public domain and its
disposition. The speech according to
reports from Washington, had had
the personal o. X. of President Taft.
| The greater portion of the burden
of the country was laid by Secretary
Ballinger at the doors of the States.
There has been and is" he said, "a
grossly exaggerated notion, among
some people, as to what the general
government can do in conserving the
natural resources that lie in the de-
posits of minerals, and are contained
in the soils and the streams. For the
most part, they have passed into pri-
vate ownership and are under the
municipal jurisdiction of the states.
Obligation on States.
amy national conservation policy
must be predicted on the policy affect
ing the public domain, since for the
most part, the states are sovereign
within their own spheres of jurisdic-
| ton. Therefore, believe greater
| obligation rests upon the state than
upon the National Government to in
augurate laws to prevent waste in the
| utilization of natural resources"
Referring to the duty Of the Nation
al Government he first regarded it as
essential that the public domain be
studied and surveyed and an "ade-
quate and scientific classification of
the remainder of the public lands" be
made. He scored the "idealisitc con-
servationists'' heavily for tackling the
proposition without sound knowl-
edge of conditions"
II grant YOU that such people are. :"
said the Secretary, for the most part
sincere, but their very sincerity gives
them such vigor of imagination and
prediction that 1t is often times hard
to combat their vagaries except
through practical demonstration.
Then to give them their due, he said,
They have this virtue, that they do
not let us forget that extremes often
prove fruitful of sound reason to
| those who may be over-optimistic."
Wise Conservation.
On his own stand in the matter Sec
rotary Ballingar said, Il an as ard.
ent an advocate of wise conservation
as the most radical, but it must be
wise conservation to appeal to me.
1t must imply as full and free de-
velopment of our national resources
as Is consistent with our civilization
and our needs. 1t may mean the res.
ervation from use for limited periods
OF certain Of our deposits of coal, of
mineral oils and gas, of phosphate, or
OF timber, to protect against the in
ordinate greed of men who wish to
exploit the present with no regard
for the future or the general welfare,
and when this becomes necessary it
is national duty to make such rescr-
vations out of the public domain.
But we must not forget that we
are not through with the policy of
development, of building up new com.
munities and settlements, even in far
off Alaska. We have not reached
that period where We can say the re-
mainder of our public lands shall be
auctioned off to the highest bidder to
increase the revenues of the Nation
al Treasury.
Congress is now struggling with
the problems relating to water power,
and other measures designed to retain
in the government the power of con-
troll and supervision.
Alaskan Affairs.
Discussing Alaskan matters. he
confined: THE known coal areas
in public ownership were not APP
praised at their maket value, are with
drawn from entry awaiting classified.
ton and appraisement, and all the
unentered or INDICATED coal lands in
Alaska are standing under an abso-
lutte withdrawal act of 1906, and not
a patent has been issued to an acre
of coal land In Alaska. In fact, near
" all the coal lands that have been
patented have been obtained not as
coal lands but nndeE tbesRqiss of some
other form of entry, 81 agricultural.
timber or stone, etc. No man, or set
Of men, can comply with the present
laws and finance mine on the pub
lie domain on 64O acres of land ex-
cept under extremely favorable con.
ditions. The absucdity of the law
has. in itself, invited fraud and indi'
rect methods OF eyadlng its provis
ions
1T is likewise Impractical to sec
cure oil or gas lands. or phosphate
lands, under TIE general minera
laws, and in all these cases there is