Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1910-01-15
President IAFTS MESSAGE
ON THE CONSERVATION Of
NATURAL .RESCRCES FRIDAY

Washington, Jan. 14.-President
Taft's special message on conserva-
ton Of natural resources sent to
congress today, is as follows:
To the Senate and House of Repre-
sentatives:
In my annual message l reserved
the subject of the conservation OF
our national resources for discus
sion in special message as follows:
In several departments there is
presented the necessity for legisla-
ton looking to the further conserva-
ton OF our national resources, and
the subject is one of such import
ance as to require a more detailed
and extended discussion than can |
entered upon in this communication.
For this reason, shall take an early
opportunity to send a special mes
sage to congress a ~ subject
thu improvement of our waterways;
upon the reclamation and irrigation
of arid, semi-arid and swamp lands
upon the preservation CT our for
ests and the re-foresting of suitable
areas; upon the Redistribution OF
the public domain with a view of
separation from agricultural settle
.ment mineral, coal and phosphate
lands and sites belonging to the
government bordering on streams
suitable for the utilization of water
power.
In 1860 we had a public domain
Of LOSS, 911 ;28S acres. We now have
731,354,O 81 acres, confined largely
to the mountain ranges and the arid
and semi-arid plains. We have, in
addition 36S, 035,475 acres of land in
Alaska.
The public lands were, during the
earliest administrations, treated as
a national asset for the liquidation
of the public debt and as source
of reward for our soldiers and sail
ors. Later on they were donated
in large amounts to aid of the con-
struction of wagon roads and rail-
ways, in order to open up regions
in the west then almost inaccessible
The principal land statutes were
enacted more than quarter of CEN
tury ago. The homestead act, the
presumption and timber culture act,
the coal land and the mining acts
were among these. The rapid dis
position of the public lands under
the early statutes, and the lax
methods of distribution prevailing,
due, I think to the belief that these
lands should rapidly pass into pri-
vate ownership gave rise to the i'm
preston that the public domain was
legitimate property for the unscrup-
ulous and that it was not contrary
to good morals to circumvent the
land laws. This prodigal manner of
disposition resulted in the passage
of large areas of valuable land and
many of our national resources into
the hands Of persons who felt little
or no responsibility for promoting
the national welfare through their
development. The truth is that title
to millions of acres of public lands
was fraudulently obtained, and that
the right to recover a large part of
such lands for the government long
since ceased by reason of statutes OF
limitation.
There has developed in recent
years a deep concern in the public
mind respecting the preservation and
proper use of our natural resources.
This has been particularly directed
toward the conservation of the re-
sources Of the public domain.
The problem is how to save ard
how to utilize, how to conserve AMI
still to develop; for no sane person
can contend that it is for the com.
mon good that natures blessings a:s
only for unborn generations.
Among the most noteworthy re-
folms initiated by my distinguished
predecessor were the vigorous pros
ecution of land frauds AMI the
bringing to public attention Of the
necessity for preserving the remain
ing public domain from further spoil
alton, for the maintenance and ex-
tension of our forest resources and
for the enactment of laws, amend
ing the obsolete statutes so as to
retain governmental control over
that part of the public domain in
which there are valuable deposits of
coal, of oil, and of phosphate and,
in addition thereto, to preserve con-
troll, 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 !