Morris tribune., 1910-10-21

| testimony; the act of February 25s
1903, granting immunity to witnesses
for the purpose of compelling them to-
testify in cases under the antitrust law
and the Interstate Commerce law; the.
act of February II, 1908, providing for
eXpediting the trial cases under the
antitrust and Interstate Commerce,
laws; and the act of March 2, 1907,
giving the government, for the first
time, the right of appeal to the su-
preme court in criminal cases. A con-
siderable number of appeals have been
taken under this law, and in great
majority of the cases so appealed the
supreme court has reversed the lower
court, thus showing the great value Of
| law. Several ViolatOrs of our public
| land laws would have received immun-
ity and escaped but for this law. All
of the acts I have cited, except the
act of February II, 1893, were passed
by Republican Congress under a
Republican President. AS I have al
ready stated, Cleveland made but
slight effort to enforce the antitrust
law. Under the administrations Of
Presidents Roosevelt and Taft nu-
merous suits have been instituted and
brought to a successful issue for the
enforcement of the law, and several
most important cases are now pending
in the courts, such as the tobacco
case, the Standard Oil case, and the
case against the Southern, Central,
and Union Pacific railroads. The only
big trust that has not yet been prose-
cuted is the so-called steel trust which
effected merger with its main rival,
the Tennessee Iron & Coal Company
| +I,o 0F1 DIT hoT
no doubt that as soon as the supreme
court has rendered it's opinions in
these other great cases, to which l
have called your attention, if the opin-
ions are favorable to the govern
ment, proceedings will be instituted
against the steel trust too. The Dem
ocratic party can show no such record
in legislation and prosecutions against
trusts and monopolies as the record
of the Republican party, to which I
! have thus briefly and in mere outline
called your attention. In fact the rec
ord of the Democratic party is we'll
nigh a total blank on the subject, both
from a legislative and administrative
standpoint, in the realm Of Federal af-
fairs and Federal jurisdiction.
| Public Land and Conservation Legisla-
ton.
Most of the remaining public lands
that can be utilized for agricultural
purposes are within the arid and
semi-arid belts of the country and en-
brace very extensive areas. 1rriga-
| tion and reclamation, under the desert
entry law, and the sO-called Carey law,
have been quite limited and sporadic,
so that it became evident years ago
that in order to promote the settle
ment, reclamation, and development Of
these large bodies of arid land and
| thus open a broad avenue for home,
making for our rapidly increasing pop
ulation, a comprehensive system Of ma
tional irrigation and reclamation was,
urgently needed. To meet this great
want and need Congress passed the
act of June II, 1902, setting apart the
proceeds of the sale Of public lands in
the arid and semi-arid states as a.
special fund to be devoted to the rec
lamation of the arid lands within
those states. There has come into
this fund, from the source named, up
wards of sixty million dollars, of which
all but about SIX and one-half millions
| have already been expended on some
thirty different projects, some of which
are completed, but the major portion
of which are still in an incomplete
| state. InaSmuch as many settlers have
| located on the lands to be irrigated by
! these several projects and are there
! anXiously awaiting a supply of water,
and could make no progress until such
a supply was furnished, it became
important, for the relief of these set
tiers, that these projects be speedily
! completed, and they could not thus be
completed from the limited amount Of
available money in the fund, or likely
to come into the fund from the source
named in the immediate future. In
view of these facts it became evident
| that additional funds should be speed
| lily provided. To meet this demand,
Congress, at the last session, by the
act of June 25, 1910, authorized the
Secretary of the Treasury to transfer,
from time to time, from the funds of
the treasury to the reclamation fund
such sums of money, not to exceed
twenty million dollars in the aggregate,
as may be required to complete worthy
pending projects, and the Treasury
Department, for the purpose of obtain
| ing the necessary money for transfer
to the reclamation fund, was author
lied to borrow the money upon five
year three per cent certificates of in
debtedness. All the funds, thus ad-
vanced by the Treasury Department,
are reimbursable from the future in
come of the reclamation fund. This
important legislation will result in the
speedy completion of the several pro-
jects and will lead to the rapid recla-
nation and development, for agricul-
tural purposes, of millions of acres Of
| fertile land.
There are in many localities in the
arid and semi-arid states, where water
is not available, or cannot be found
for irrigation purposes, many thousand
acres of land, quite fertile in them
selves, which can only be reclaimed by
system of so-called dry farming. To
aid in the settlement and development
of these lands Congress passed the
act Of February 10, 1909, providing for
enlarged homesteads of 800 acres of
non-irrigable land. The theory on
which this legislation was based was