The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1910-09-09

81. fdul, sept. o'-Auo NoIioA"A
Conservation congress listened with
deep interest to President Taft's adj
dress today. The chief executive
spoke substantially as follows:
Gentlemen Of the National Conservation
Congress:
Conservation as an economic ana po-
lItical term has come to mean the preser-
walton of our natural resources Ior
economical use, so as to secure the great
est good to the greatest NUMBER.
The danger to the state and to the peo-
pie at large from the waste ana olssipa-
ton of our national wealth Is not one
which quickly impresses itself on the peo-
pie of the older communities. because lts
most obvious instances do not occur III
their neighborhood, while in the newer
part of the country the sympathy with
expansion and development is so strong
that the danger Is scoffed at or ignored.
Among scientific men and thougnt1ui oo-
servers, however, the danger mas always
been present; but 1t needed some one 10
bring home the crying need for a remedy
Of this evil so as to impress itself on the
public mind and lead to the formation Oh
public opinion and action by the repre-
sentatives of the people. Theodore Roose-
welt took up this task in the last Two
years Of his second administration, ana
we'll did he perform it.
AS president Of the United States l
have. as it were, inherited this policy
and I rejoice in my heritage. l prize my
high opportunity to do all that an eH-
ecutive can do to help a great people
realize a great national ambition. FOL
conservation is national. 1t affects every
man of US, every woman, every chlld.
What 1 can do in the cause l shall 90,
not as president of a party. but as presi-
dent of the whole people. Conservation
is not a question of politics, or or rae
tions, or of persons. 1t is a question tnat
affects the vital welfare of all OF uS-of
our children and our children's children.
I urge that no good can come from meet
tngs Of this sort unless we ascrlbe TO
those who take part in them, and VINO
are apparently striving worthlly In the
cause, all proper motives, and unless we
tudicially consider every measure OF
method proposed with a view to its effec-
tiveness in achieving our common pur-
pose, and wholly without regard to who
proposes 1t or who will claim the credlt
for it's adoption. The problems are OF
very great difficulty and call for the
calmest consideration and clearest fore
sight. Many of the questions presented
have phases that are new in this coun-
try, and 1t is possible that in their solu-
ton we may have to attempt first one
way and then another. What L wish 10
emphasize, however, is that a satisfac-
tory conclusion can only be reacneo
promptly If we avoid acrimony. imputa-
tons Of bad faith, and political contro-
versy.
The public domain Of the government
of the United States. including all the
cessions from those Of the thirteen states
that made cessions to the United states
and including Alaska, amounted In all TO
about 1900, 600, 900 acres. OF this there Is
left as purely government properly ri o OUT. .
side of Alaska something like 0,GO,oO OF
acres. or this the national forest re-
serves In the United States proper en-
brace 144, 600, 900 acres.
shall divide my discussion under the
heads of 0 agricultural lands; CD min
eral lands-that is, lands containing
metalliferous minerals; () forest lands:
"a coal lands; 90 oil and gas lands; and
80 phosphate lands.
AGRICULTURAL Lands.
Our land laws for the entry Of agricul-
tural lands are now as follows:
The original homestead law, with the
requirements of residence and cultivation
for five years, much more strictly en-
forced than ever before.
The enlarged homestead act, applying
to nonirrigable lands only. requiring five
years residence and continuous culuva'
ton of one-fourth Of the area.
The desert-land act, which requires or
the part Of the purchaser the ownership
of a water right and thorough reclcma
ton Of the land by irrigation, and tht
payment of SIPS per acre.
The donation or Carey act, under which
the state selects the land and provides
for it's reclamation, and the title vests II
the settler who resides upon the land an
cultivates 1t and pays the cost of thu
reclamation.
The national reclamation homestead
law, requiring five years residence AM
cultivation by the settler on the land If
rigated by the government, and paymen
by him to the government of the cost o
the reclamation.
The present congress passed a bill o
great Importance, severing the OWNERSHIP
of coal by the government in the groun'
from the surface and permitting home
stead entries upon the surface Of tn
land, which, when perfected, give tn
settler the right to farm the surface
while the coal beneath the surface Is re
tanned in ownership by the government
and may be disposed of by 1t under othe
laws.
There is no crying need for radical re
form in the methods of disposing Of wha
are really agricultural lands. The pres
ent laws have worked well. The er
larged homestead law has encouraged tn
successful farming of lands in the sem
arid regions.
Reclamation.
BY the reclamation act a fund has bee
created of the proceeds of the publ
lands Of the United States with which
construct works for storing great bodie
Of water at proper attitudes from which
by a suitable system Of canals and ditcf
es, the water is to be distributed over tn
arid and subarid lands of the governmer
to be sold to settlers at a price sufficiei
to pay for the improvements. Primaril.
the projects are and must be for the in
provement of public lands. Incidental
where private land Is also within reae
Of the water supply, the furnishing
cost or profit of this water to priva
owners by the government is held by II
federal court Of appeals not to be
usurpation Of power. But certainly tn
ought not to be done except from su
plus water, not needed for governme
land. The total sum already accumul
ted in the reclamation fund is $6e,N
258. q, and Of that all but Sc. 4S1, 955.3 h
been expended. It became very clear
congress at it's last session, from {
statements made by experts. that the
80 projects could not be promptly col
pleted with the balance remaining
hand or with the funds likely to accr