The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram., 1910-12-06

and recommend its enactment
One Of the difficulties in the interior
department and in the land office has
been the delays attendant upon the
consideration by the land ONCE and the
secretary Of the interior Of claims for
patents Of public lands to individuals.
am glad to say that under the recent
appropriations OF the congress and the
earnest efforts OF the secretary and his
subordinates these arrears have been
disposed of and the work Of the de-
partment has been brought more near
ly up to date in respect to the pending
business than ever before In its his
tory. Economies have been effected
where possible without legislative as
sistance, and these are shown in the
reduced estimates for the expenses Of
the department during the current fis-
cal year and during the year to come.
Conservation.
The subject Of the conservation Of
attention Of the people within the last
two or three years.
Agricultural Lands.
There Is no need for radical reform
in the methods OF disposing Of what
are really agricultural lands. The
enlarged homestead law has encour-
aged the successful farming Of lands
in the semiarid regions.
Reclamation.
The total sum already accumulated
in the fund provided by the act for
$69. .449, ,O5S.76. and Of this all but $6,-
241, ,O5S.76 has been allotted to the va
rio,ls projects, Of which there are thir-
ty. Congress at its last session pro-
vided for the issuing of certificates OF
Indebtedness not exceeding $2O, ,OOO. 600.
to be redeemed from the reclamation
fund when the proceeds Of lands sold
and from the water rents should be
sufficient.
Meantime, In accordance with the
provisions Of the law. appointed a
board Of army engineers to examine
the projects and to ascertain which
are feasible and worthy Of completion.
That board has made a report upon
the subject, which I shall transmit In
a separate message within few days
Forest Lands.
Nothing can be more important In
the matter of conservation than the
treatment OF our forest lands. It was
probably the ruthless destruction Of
forests In the older states that first
called attention to the necessity for a
halt in the waste Of our resources.
This was recognized by congress by
an act authorizing the executive to re-
serve from entry and set aside pub
lie timberlands as national forests.
Speaking generally. there has been re-
served Of the existing forests about 20
per cent Of all the timberlands Of the
government. Within these forests dn-
cluding 100000 acres in two forests
in Alaska) are 10000, 600 acres, Of
which 166.OOO,O 900 acres are in the
United States proper and include with
in their boundaries something like o.
100000 acres that belong to the states
Cr to private individuals.
W u A4ANS1 InCAs SAOluuluk AIdSkd lot.
ests, a total of about 144,OOO, 600 acres
of forests belonging to the government
which are being treated in accord with
the principles Of scientific forestry.
The law now prohibits the reservation
OF any more forest lands In Oregon,
Washington, Idaho, Montana, Colora-
do and Wyoming except by act of con-
gress. I am informed by the depart
ment Of agriculture that the govern
ment owns other tracts Of timberland
in these states which should be in
cluded In the forest reserves. rec
ommend to congress that the Limitation
herein imposed be repealed.
In the present forest reserves there
are lands which are not properly for
est land and which ought to be sub
ject to homestead entry. This has
caused some local irritation. We are
carefully eliminating such lands from
forest reserves or, where their elimina-
tion Is not practicable, listing them
for entry under the forest homestead
act Congress ought to trust the ex-
ecutive to use the power Of reservation
only with respect to land most valu-
able for forest purposes.
During the present administration
6.250,OOO acres Of land. largely non
timbered, have been excluded from for
est reserves, and 3,5OO,OOO acres Of land
principally valuable for forest pur.
poses have been included in forest re-
serves. making a reduction in forest
reserves Of nontimbered land amount
ing to 2,75O.OOO acres. The bureau of
forestry since its creation has initiat-
ed reforestation ON about 1900 acres.
A great deal Of the forest land is avail
able for grazing. During the past year
the grazing licensees numbered 25,6S7,
and they pastured upon the forest re-
serves 1,4Oe.s73 cattle, $3.50 horses
and 7,55S,65O sheep. for which the gov
eminent received 1856, 800. a decrease
from the preceding year Of s45,276,
due to the fact that no money was col
lected or received for grazing on the
nontimbered lands eliminated from the
forest reserves. Another source of
profit in the forestry is the receipts for
timber sold.
This year they amounted to $1.O43.-
42S, an increase Of $3O7 1926 over the re-
ceipts Of last year. This increase is
due to the improvement in Transports
ton to market and to the greater IA
cility with which the timber can be
roarhed