Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-03-16
Proves His Hostility to
Conservation in St.
Paul Speech.
INLARM is NEEDLESS
County, Too Great to Be Scar
ed-KInimizes the CLAWS
Investigation.

St. Paul. Mimi March 16.-Ac-
cording to Secretar. of the Interior
Ballinger, who is in vt. Paul today
to address the Minnea TIA conserva-
ton convention, the inst gent move
ment is something like = fantasy,
also a mirage, and the ->ellinger-
Pinchot hearing in Washingl n is of
less Importance in the east t. IN in
the west.
Can Clear Up Everything.
Speaking of the investigation ?
the CLAWS charges now going on IL
Washington, Ballinger said: $50 far
nothing has been brought to light
but suspicious. inuendos and intima-
tions. These l shall be able to dis
sipate as soon as my evidence is in"
Must Look Wise to Him.
st. Paul. Mimi, March 16.-As ar
dent an advocate of wise conservation
as the most radical, was the way in
which Secretary Ballinger of the in
terror department, in a speech today
before the state conservation conven-
tion, expressed his policy in regard
to the public land question. But
he added, ''it must be wise conserva-
ton to appeal to me-
Secretary Ballinger declared himself
out of sympathy with those radicals
who fear that all natural resources
are being used up without any con-
sideration for future generations.
Richest of All.
"Our country" he said, '1s the rich
est -of-aIL- in natural resources. Its
soil. its minerals, its coal its Iron, it's
granite, its limestone, It's Water power
and its climate possess immeasura-
bic wealth, and, if properly utilized,
contain sufficient resources to care for
all probable increase in the population
of our country in the years to come"
He said that while the doctrain-
aires figure that the coal deposits of
the United States and Alaska will be
exhausted in a period of about 100
years, the fact Is that, according TO
the production of coal in the United
States at the close of 1908, only or
of 1 per cent of the original supply
of coal had been exhausted. leaving
as the apparent supply still available
99.6 per cent Of the original supply, |
or coal enough to last, as some claim, |
for a period of 1000 years.
Notion Exaggerated.
After long Indifference on the part |
of the people as to the public domain, /
he declared, "a deep concern has sud /
denly arisen respecting the remnant |
of the national estate, with a wholly /
exaggerated notion of what should be .
done with it by the government. There
is much talk about the conservation |
aP
theories that sound good to the ear.
but are impossible of practical appli-
cation to existing conditions. are ad-
vanced. Between the hysteria that
exists on the one side and the tenden-
cy to despoil the public domain On
the other, we will, it is hoped, be able
to find the true policy of the govern
ment"
He expressed the opinion that "a
greater obligation rests upon the
states than upon the general govern
ment to inaugurate laws to prevent
waste in the utilization OF national re-
sources" There has been a grossly
notion among some peo-
pie, he declared, as to what the gen.
eral government can do in conserving
the natural resources that lie in the
deposits of minerals, and are contain
ed in the soils and the streams. For
the most part, he pointed out, they
have passed into private ownership
and are under the municipal owner
ship of the states.
Leave II to States.
1T seems to me-" he continued,
that we should not try to impose the
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