Perth Amboy evening news., 1910-01-14
Says Lands Should be Class
flied According to Their
Value of Use.
WORK OF AGRICULTURAL
DEPARTMENTS PLANNED
Declares that the Govern
msnt Should Help Settlers
Y-Must Maintain Forests.
pecial 0y United Press Wire.

Washington, Jan. 14:-President
Taft sent to congress today a special
message on conservation of the ma
tional resources. The message is as
follows:
IN my anN~al message I reserved
the subject of the conservation of our
national resources for discussion in a
special message. as follows:
"ln several departments there is
presented the necessity for legislation
looking to the further conservation OF
our national resources. and the sub
ject Is one of such Importance as to
require more detailed and extended
discussion than can be entered upon
In this communication. For that rea-
son | shall take an early opportunity
to send a special message to congress
on the subject of the improvement of
our waterways; upon the reclamation
ana irrigation of arid. semiarid and
swamp lands; upon the preservation
OF our forests and tie reforesting of
suitable areas; upon the reclassi6ca-
= ton Of the public domain with view
OF separating from agricultural set
tlement mineral, coal and phosphate
lands and sites belonging to the gov
ernment bordering on streams suitable
for the utilization of water power"
In 1860 we had public demain OF
1.O55c}ll .2SS acres. We have now
731 1854, ,0Sl acres confined largely to
the mountain ranges and the arid and
semiarid plains. We have in addition
36SO35,9 ,975 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 a source OF re-
ward for our soldiers and sailors
Later ON they were donated in large
amounts in aid of the construction or
wagon roads and railways in order to
open up regions in the west then al
most inaccessible. All the principal
land statutes were enacted more than
quarter of century ago. The home
stead act. the pre-enption and timber
culture net, the coal land and the min
ing acts were among these. The rapid
disposition et the public lands under
the early statutes and the lax meth
GUS VI ulStEtUullOu pleNuiiuS, uuC,
think, to the belief that these lands
should rapidly pass into private own
ership, gave rise to the impression
that the public domain was legitimate
prey for the INSCRIPTIONS and that it
was not contrary to good morals to
circumvent the land laws. This prod
igal manner of disposition resulted in
the passing of large areas of valuable
land and many of our national re-
sources into the hands of persons who
felt little or no responsibility for pro-
noting the national welfare through
their development. The truth is that
titles to millions of acres of public
lands wer, 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.
Great Public Concern.
There has developed in recent years
a deep concern In the public mind re-
slccting the preservation and proper
use of our natural resources. This has
been particularly directed toward the
conservation of the resources of the
public domain. The problem is how
to save and how to utilize, how to
conserve aud still develop, for no
sane person can contend that II is for
the common good that natures bless
ings are only for unborn generations.
Among the most noteworthy reforms
Initiated by my distinguished prede-
cessor were the vigorous prosecution Of
land frauds and the bringing to public
attention OF the necessity for preserv-
ing the remaining public domain from
further spoliatlon, for the maintenance
and extension 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 control under conditions fa-
vorable TO the public of the lands along
the streams In which the fall of wafer
can be made to generate power to be
transmitted fD the form OF electricity
many miles to the point of its use,
known as water power" sites
The Investigations into violations of
the public land laws and the prosecu-
tion Of land frauds have been vigor-
ously contipued under my administra-
ton. as has been the withdrawal of
coal lands for classification and valua-
tion and the temporary Withholding of
power sites.
Continued on page 16.)