The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-01-14
What the President Recommends.

 provision for renewal to prevent the absorption of these lands by 8 power monopoly.
 A S30,00O,000 bond issue to complete the reclamation pro- jects now under construction in the west.
 Validation of withdrawals by
 Secretary of the Interior under | supervisory power.
 The removal of timber. from
 forest lands not in the National Forests and the disposition of
 these lands as agricultural or mineral tracts
 A moderate appropriation for experimental reforestation at the
 heads of certain navigable streams.
 An appropriation in the Rivers and Harbors bill for the i'm provement of the upper Missis-
 sippi. the Missouri and the Ohio
 How It Is to Be Done:
 These recommendations are in-
 corporated in bills the Secretary
 of the Interior has prepared and
 these are at the disposition of
 Congress.
 Special from United Press.) Washington, Jan. 14.-Urgfng that Congress proceed immediately to dis pose of the Ballinger Conserva- tion program without awaiting the outcome of the Congressional investi- gation of the Ballinger- -Pinchot Gis- pute, President Taft today rans-mit ted his special message to Congress on the conservation of Natural re- sources.
 The President recommends legisla- ton providing for the conservation Of the public lands; the safeguarding ot power sites along rivers in the public domain; the validating of the with. drawals from entry made by the sec retary of the interior under the dis puted supervisory power; a detail ed classification of public lands ac- cording to their use; the disposition of the agricultural and mineral re- sources of the same portions of the public lands separately; the rapid completion of the reclamation pro- jects now under way ard a S3O,00e,- 900 issue to further extend these pro- jects; the extension of activities Of the Forest Service; the conservation of the soil; and the carrying out of an extensive program of inland wa terways improvement.
 All of these matters, with the ex- ceptiOn of the forest and inland wa terWays recommendations, the Presi- dent says, have been embodied in a series or D1IlS prepared Dy secretary of the Interior Ba1linger. The bills are now on the Presidents desk awaiting introduction into Con- gresS.
 The message reviews at length the history of public law, setting forth that the present statutes have been in operation for more than a quarter of a century, and that under them the nation has been defrauded out of millions of acres of land. The President says that under his admin sstratiOn, there have been con- tinued the vigorous investigations in land frauds that were initiated by his distinguished" predecessor and the withdrawal of coal lands and power sites from entry has been continued Along this line the President rec l ommends that Congress validate with drawals made by the Secretary of the l Interior and authorize the secretary 1 to make such withdrawals. The separation of the right to mine. from the agricultural rights, on the 1 public lands, and the disposition of these rights separately, is also recom- mended. The President says the geo. l logical survey should classify the lands according to their principal 1 value.
 The message urges a 30,000, 900
 bond issue to continue the reclama-
 tion work in the west and gives high
 praise to the men engaged in the projects.
 An experimental reforestation at
 the head of navigable streams by the l Forest Service is recommended and a
 new law is urged for the disposition
 of timber on small areas net included
 in the National Forests. On the subject of inland water
 ways, the President comes out fatly
 in favor of the Mississippi, Ohio and
 Missouri river improvements, recom- mending that Congress include an appropriation for carrying on the work in the river and harbor bill.
 He approves foot channel in the Ohio from Pittsburg to Cairo; 6 foot channel in the upper Mississippi l from St. Paul to St. Louis; and in the | Missouri from Kansas City to St, Louis 6 feet and from St. louis to I Cairo 8 feet.
 Here are some of the salient points l of the message:
 Among the most noteworthy re- | forms initiated by my distinguished l predecessor were the vigorous prose- cution of land frauds and the bring 1 ing to public attention of the neces- 1 sity for preserving the remaining pub- 1 lie domain from further spoliation, for l tn emaintenance and extension of our forest resources, and for the enact ment of laws amending the obsolete statutes so as to retain governments al control over that part of the public domain in. which there are valuable 1 deposits of coil, oil, and of phosphate, and in addition thereto, to preserve control. under conditions favorable to
 the public, of the lands along the
 streams in which the fall of water can be made to generate power to be transmitted in the form of electricity
 many miles to the point of it's use, ] known as water power sites It seems to. me that it is the duty of Congress now, by statute, to validate l the withdrawals which have been made by the Secretary of the Interior and the President, and to authorize l the Secretary of the Interior tempor- 1 arily to withdraw lands pending sub mission to Congress of recommenda- tions as to legislation to meet condi- tions or emergencies as they arise.
 .Tt is now proposed to dispose of agricultural lands as such, and at the
 same time to reserve for other dis position the treasure of coal, oil, as- phaltum, natural gas, and phosphate 1 contained therein. This may be best accomplished by separating the right l to mine from the title to the surface,
 giving the necessary use of so much of l the latter as may be required for the
 extraction of the deposits. The sur- face might be disposed of as agricul-