The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1910-07-16
news NOTES OF
NATIONS CAPITAL
Especial to the Silver State.)
Senator Borah on Conservation.

Senator Borah on Conservation.
WASHINGTON, July l6.--It is in
evitable that the views of the east and
west should differ regarding the con-
servation Of the nations natural re-
sources. Senator Borah, of Idaho, one
of the young intellectual giants of the
senate, delivered speech shortly be-
fore congress adjourned, in which he
gave his views ON the subject. He said
that 150,000,000 acres of the public
domain had been granted to railroads
and other public service corporations,
and that most liberal policy had been
followed toward them, even when they
had not earend their land grants. To
homesteaders about 115,000,000 acres
had been granted. The homesteader,
said the Senator, was required by law
to "take his family upon the land,
improve it, and reside upon it for FIVE
years. No matter how desolate the To-
cality, how insufferable the cold Of the
winter or the drought in summer, no
matter what crop failures or sickness
occurred, he had to remain or forfeit
the title. He was chained like Prone
theus to his rock. If he left for time
to gain a livelihood to support his
family his title was promptly chal-
lenged and the most strict interpreta.
tion of the law administered. A few
years ago by cruel, unjust and illegal
system method was devised which,
as a practical matter, extended the
residence period to seven or eight
years. It not only extended the resi-
dence period, but it put upon the set
tier already limited in means an extra
burden for attorney fees and expenses
of litigation But this was not all.
The Senator continued:
The settler would make his proof,
and a special agent would appear and
file objection to the issuance of patent.
In other words, the special agent, act
ing for the government, was proceed
ing upon the theory that every set
tier who came in contact with he pub
lie lands was dishonest and perjurer
The special agent was accomplishing
in this way two things which added
greatly to his zeal First, he was over
seeing and supervising the honesty and
integrity of all men-and how fasci-
mating this kind of service is to a
special agent no human language can
describe. There is an exquisiteness of
pleasure connected with such service
known only to the highly wrought and
sensitive soul of special agent. Sec
ond, he was justifying in the most con-
elusive way the necessity Of his work
and the necessity of his continued en-
|ployment by the government.
"Thus the system, with an appetite
increasing as it fed, indiscriminately
challenged every title, good and bad.
BY the time the special agent COM
pleted his report and the matter was
finally passed upon months and years
had passed. Often the homesteader
impoverished and harassed, gave up the
work of his five years and his pros
pect of home and went into the town
to enter the competitive field of the
day laborer Mr.. President, I do not
hesitate to say--and shall be glad to
see the man who will refute the state
ment-that this system is an outrage
GUS violotion of law, of every principle
of justice and of rightful relationship
which should exist between the govern
ment and the citizens.
Non Use Versus Conservation.
Senator Borah made it plaip that
the west protests against the policy of
non-use. He said:
"Every water power unused, locked
up in idleness and inactivity when
there are communities to serve, is a
subtraction from the sum of human
happiness and prosperity. Every
piece of land which will produce the
nececcaries of life dedicated by law to
non-use, incorporated in reserve and
denied to settlement, is an extra bur-
| den upon every man who buys the
necessaries Of life. Every year in
which thousands of feet of ripened
timber are permitted to rot and fall
| in the reserves you are stealing some
thing from the human race that be-
longs to it, and every year that the
great coal beds of the Pacific slope 90
undeveloped it costs this government
extra millions to send coal around to
the Pacific, burdens every citizen in
that part of the country with exorbi-
tant freight charges, and puts extra
millions into the hands Of eastern coal
companies who are delighted to see
this go on. 1t would be a magnificent
scheme indeed to compel the whole
great west to hold its vast resources
in idleness, deprive its people of their
enjoyment and use, and compel them to
paw tribute to those resources of which
lsVu hdNO tdhCu poooOooAoh hSic anu uO'
veloped at your own free will"
An Explorers Reward.
The florists are displaying new
palm which they call Phoenix Robel
mi, after Robbel's date palm. It il
similar to the ordinary dates usually
found in the florist shops, except that
the leaves are more slender and grace
full, the general effect being more airy
No one except the lucky Robbel him.
self knows where this palm is to be
found. While on an exploring expe,
dition in Africa he came across it, and
having brother who was florist, he
realized the value of it from com
mercial standpoint. He secured a guam
tity of the seeds and his brother plant
ed them, succeeding in growing mum
Der of fine plants. He got more seeds
and after time the plants were pu,
on the market. The smallest ones now
cost one dollar each, while a moder
ately large one, standing perhaps six
feet high, is quoted at $40. Probably
the seeds, which are now for the first
H. A. IL.