The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-01-14

has been done has been well done and
many important engineering problems
have been met and solved
Big Bond Issue Urged.
One of the difficulties which has
arisen is that too many projects in
view of the available funds have been
! set on foot. The funds available I'M
| der the reclamation statute are inade-
quate to complete the projects with
| in q reasonable time And vet the
projects have been begun; settlers
have been invited to take up and in
| many instances have taken up the pit
land within the projects, relying upon
| their prompt completion. The failure
to complete the projects for their
| benefit is, in effect, a breach of faith
| and leaves them in most distress
| ing condition. / urge the nation ought
to afford the means to lift them out
| of the very desperate condition in
| which they are now. This condition
1 does not indicate any excessive waste
| or any corruption on the part of the
reclamation service. It only indicates
| an OverZealouS desire to extend the
| benefit of reclamation to as many
acres and as many states as possible.
I recommend, therefore, that author
/ 1ty be given to issue not exceeding
| $30,000,000 of bonds from time to
| time as the secretary of the interior
| shall find it necessary, the proceeds to
| be applied to the completion of the
projects already begun and their
ming ten years or more, to be taken
| up by the proceeds Of returns to the
reclamation fund, which returns as
the years ago on, will increase rapid
| ~ in amount
| There is no doubt at all that if
these bonds were to be allowed to run
ten years the proceeds from the pub
lie land, together with the rentals for
water furnished through the complet-
| ed enterprises, would create a sinking
| fund large enough to retire the bonds
within the time specified. I hope that
while the statute shall provide that
these bonds are to be paid out of the
reclamation fund, it will be drawn in
| such a way as to secure interest at
the lowest rate and that the credit of
| the United States will be pledged for
their redemption. Il urge considera-
| ton of the recommendation of the
! secretary of the interior in his annual
report for amendments of the recla-
nation act, proposing other relief for
settlers on these projects.
New Timber Law Needed.
Respecting the comparatively small
| timbered areas on the public domain
not included in national forests be-
cause of their isolation or their spe-
cial value for agricultural or mineral
purposes. it is apparent from the evils
resulting by virtue of the imperfec-
tions Of existing laws for the disposi-
ton of timber lands that the acts of
June 8, 1878, should be repealed and
a law enacted for the disposition of
the timber at public SALE the lands
after the removal of the timber to be
subject to appropriation under the
agricultural or mineral lands law.
BaIlinger's Plan Favored
What I have said is really an cpl
tome of the recommendation of the
| secretary of the interior in respect to
the future conservation of the public
domain in his present annual report.
He has given close attention to the
problem of disposition of these lands
under such conditions as to invite the
private capital necessary to their de-
velOpment on the one hand and the
maintenance of the restrictions neces-
sary to prevent monopoly and abuse
from absolute ownership on the other.
These recommendations are incorpor-
ated in bills he has prepared and they
are at the disposition of the congress
recommend all the suggestions
which he has made with respect to
these lands shall be embodied in stat
utes, and especially that the with
dated so far as necessary and that the
authority of the secretary of the in
terror to withdraw lands for the pur-
pose Of submitting recomm endation
new legislation is needed shall be
made complete and unquestioned
Forest Reserve.
| The forest reserve of the United
States come 100 million acres in ex-
tent, are under the control of the de-
partment of agriculture with author
ity adequate to preserve them and to
extend their growth so far as that
may be practicable The importance
| of maintenance of our forests can not
scientific treatment of forests in order
that they shall be made to yield a
| large return in timber without really
reducing the supply has been demon
%<@6 in oil %--s-
should work toward the standard set
by them as far as their methods are
applicable to our conditions.
| Upwards of four hundred million
| acres of forest land in this country are
in private ownership but only three per
cent of it is being treated scientifically
and with view to the maintenance Of
| the forests. The part played by the
forests in the equalization of the supply
| of water on water sheds is a matter of
| discussion and dispute but the general
! benefit to be derived by the public from
/ the extension of forest lands on water
sheds and the promotion of the growth
! of the trees in places that are now de-
1 nuded and nat once had great flourish
| ing forests, goes without saying. The
control to be exercised over private
owners in their treatment of the forests
| which they own IS a matter for sta tie
| and not national regulation, because
| there is nothing in the constitution
that authorizes the federal government
| to exercise any control over forests
within a state, unless the forests are
| owned in proprietary way by the fed
| era1 government
/ It has been proposed, and bill for
/ the purpose passed the lower house in
/ the last congress, that the national gov
/ eminent appropriate g. certain amount
/ each year out of the receipts from the
j forestry business of the government 70
1 institute reforestation at the sources Of
i certain navigable streams to be selected