Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-06-21
avail themselves of the use and bene-

| avail themselves of the use and bene-
fit."
| MIR. Borah said Congress could not
promote conservation by treating
power sites, which to utilize was to
| conserve, as it did GAL beds. which to
utilize was to consume AS to I'M
developed natural resources he said
that after Congress had adopted laws
to prevent waste. extravaganza and
monopoly, SO as to insure their
economic and bona fide use by the
people, it was about as far as the
United States government could go.
He added that as to timber there al
ways should be the encouragement
and aid of reforestation as that was
something that could be reproduced.
Every water power site unused.
locked up in idleness and inactivity
when there are communities to serve.
man happiness and prosperity" he
continued. Every piece of land
which will produce the necessaries Of
life dedicated by law to non-use, in
| corporated in reserve and denied to
settlement. is an extra burden upon
every man who buys the necessaries
| of life. Every year in which thou
sands Of feet of ripened lumber are
permitted to rot and fall in the re-
serves you are stealing something
| from the human race that belongs to it,
and every year that the great coal beds
| of the Pacific slope go undeveloped it
costs this government it's extra mill
| lions to send coal around to the
Pacific, burdens every citizen in that
part of the country with exorbitant
freight charges. and puts extra mil
lions into the hands of eastern coal
companies who delighted to see this go
on"
Economic use and DEVELOPMENT
should be the basic and fundamental
principle of any conservation policy
agreed upon or incorporated into law,
said Senator Borah.
These resources are not to lie idle
imprisoned and unuseable," he urged
IF you join with us in that PROPOSE
ton. we will gladly join you in formu-
lating policy of regulation and con-
troll which will avoid waste, ex-
travagance and monopoly as far as
possible. But upon a policy of nom
use. of strangulation of the great
West. we stop at the first call for
legislation. If strangulation is to be
had, it will first be tried upon some of
the measure in this body.
I'VE have reached, it seems, that
pitiable. indefensible position, accord
ing to those who would tie up our re-
sources, where we are willing to con-
fess before the world that as law
makers we are inefficient as admins
traitors worthless, and that our citizen
ship is so brazen and corrupt that we
can no longer do business, but out of
sheer impotency, must shut up shop,
| denounce such a theory as libel
upon our citizenship. manufactured
and well distributed libel upon the
West. and for Interior and selfish mo-
tives"
Senator Borah declared that any
legislation upon the subject of con-
servation must be upon the basis that
western citizenship was honest, law
abiding and intelligent; that ves+c
'e"ple appreciated the value of their
resources and proposed to protec,
them; and that they We're loyal to thei1
states and to the nation as a whole.
THE conservation policy which
teaches the farmer the science
armlng. how to vary his crops, protect
them from insects and his stock from
disease. how to make 35 bushels OF
what grow where only 90 grew before
which reforests those timber lands
which will produce nothing but tim
Der. which will adopt policy of
regulation and control admitting of w.
Ilu GeVp1Onnpnt
conservation of policy" he asserted
But the policy which withholds the
agricultural land from production and
hinders industrial life, which forces the
"'tizen into city or foreign cline
for lands, is not only short sighted and
unwise. but is a blunder, which. in
Legislation. is even worse than a
crime
prophesy that such a policy will
De rejected in the end What we want
Is more farmers and better farms more
homes and better homes" he added.
The West has her fight to make in
the industrial world said Mr.. Borah
III CONCLUSION. She has to take care
II her people and furnish PROSPERITY
tor those who come among us. Taxes
must De raised to sustain county and
state governments. With one third of
our state in forest reserve, with our
settlers being driven from our state
INTO canada. with our power sites tied
up' with the resources which belong to
.nose who are willing to take hold If
.nem and develop them taken from rs
'ie outlook is not encouraging. If
YOU say 10 us that conservation means
tne holding of those lands and mower
sues indefinitely with view of secur.
ing permanently the highest possible
,oa e"ue 10 tne government. we will op-
pose mat policy to the end But if If
means an honest effort tn nro+oot
those resources to an economic and
saie use by the people, free of ex-
.rdVagance and waste, we will, ioi,
you But we have grown wearv of
en's universal and senseless o,,tcrv
against a whole community"