The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1910-09-07
INTELLIGENT
CONSERVATION
IS ESSENTIAL
James ]. Hill Raps Fadists
and breaches Common
Sense Use
HIGH COST Of COMMODITIES
Que TO n0h.USE SYSTEM
The Great Industrial Empire Builder
Points Out the Folly Of withdrawing
Lands From Agricultural Use fol
Forest Reservation.

st. Paul, Sept. flames ]. Hill, ad-
dressing the conservation congress to-
day on Practical Conservation" said,
In part:
Belief in q comprehensive system
OF conservation Of all resources has,
now taken possession of the public
mind. What remains to be done is
that most difficult of all the tasks Of
statemanship-the application of an
accepted principle and making 1t con-
form in all its general outlines to the
common good.
ITO pack the fact into single
statement, the need of the hour and
the end to which this congress should
devote itself is to conserve conserva-
tion. 1t has come into that peril
which no great truth escapes-the
danger that turks in the house Of its
friends. 1t has been used to forward
that serious error of policy, the extern
sion of the powers and activities Of
the national government at the ex-
pense of the states. The time Ia ripe
and this occasion is most fitting for
distinguishing between real and fan
ciful conservation, and for establish-
Ing sound relation of means to ends.
I've should first exclude certain ac-
ttvities that come only indirectly un-
der the term, conservation The re-
clamation service Is one. It's work is
not preservation, but utilization. The
arid lands Of this country have been
where they now are, the streams have
flowed past them uselessly ever since
Adam and Eve we're in the Garden of
Eden. Irrigation was practiced in
prehistoric time. What we have to do
is to bring modern methods to the aid
of one Of the Oldest agricultural arts.
1t Is mentioned here because its prog
ress illustrates the dangers that be-
set conservation projects proper
"They are dangers inseparable from
national control and conduct of af-
fairs. The machine is too big and too
distant; its operation is slow, cum
brous and costly. So slow is 1t that
Settlers are waiting in distress for
water promised long ago. So faulty
has been the adjustment Of time and
money that congress has had to au-
thorize the issue of $20,000,000 of ma
tional obligations to complete projects
still hanging in the air. So expensive
is it that estimates have been exceed
ed again and again. The settler has
had eitser to pay more than the cost
figure he relied on or seek cheaper
land in Canada. 1t costs the govern
ment from fifty per cent more to twice
as mnch as il would private enter
nrise to nut water on the land. I'm
der the Lower Yellowstone project
the charge ia s42.50 per acre, and one
dollar per acre annually for mainte-
nance. The sunnyside project carries
a charge of $50 per acre, and IS sents
maintenance. Under the North Platte
project the charge is S45 per acre;
nina a maintenance charge not an
nounced. These projects, in widely
senarated localities, entail a land
charge prohibitiye to the frontier set
Tiers to nroytde homes for those for
whom this work was believed to have
heen undertaken. The pioneer set
tIer who can nav. even in ten annual
instruments. from $500 to $4,000 for
eighty acres Of land. In addition to
the YEARLY fee per acre.. must have
some other resources to aid him. The
work Of irrigation would have been