The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1910-08-30

our public innds stsniIu' 'ErFr#rrrrTayT
into private ownership except for the
single purpose Of homestead settle.
ment. and know that the stockmen
stand with me In their desire to re-
move every obstacle from the path OF
the genuine liomesteader and to put
every possible obstacle In the pathway
Of the man who tries to get public
lands by Misrepresentation or fraud.
This Is absolutely necessary ON the
agricultural lands. IL is at least equal
ly necessary on the mineral lands. IL
would be calamity whose baleful ef-
feet on the average citizen we can
scarcely exaggerate II the great stores
OF coal and other mineral fuels still
owned by the people in Alaska and
elsewhere shoud pass into the unreg-
ulated ownership of monopolistic cor
porations.
The Forest Service.
You progressive stockmen have stood
heartily by the conservation move
ment. and with you have stood many
others throughout the west, to whom
large credit is due. such as the lum-
bermen in Washington and Oregon,
the irrlgators In California aud the
supporters of the country life move
ment In and around Spokane. want
to make my acknowledgements In par
ticular to the Colorado Forestry asso-
citation. which has supported the forest
,,,n,t, nf tI,a onVarn,uaut ,ritI, stnh nm
selfish zeal The forest service has
enemies because II IL effective Some
of its best work has been met by the
bitterest opposition. For example, IL
has done real service by blocking
the road against the grabbers of water
power and again by standing like n
rock against the demands Of bogus
mining concerns to exploit the nation
al forests
have always done my best to help
the genuine miner. | believe that one
of the first duties OF the government
IL TO encourage honest smining on the
public lands. Hut II Is equally lmpor-
tant to enforce the law firiuly against
that particularly dangerous class which
makes its living Off the public through
fraudulent mining schemes.
Much of the opposition to the forest
service like much Of the opposition to
| conservation. takes the form of direct
Misrepresentation For example, the
cry Is often heard that the national for
ests inclose great areas OF agricultural
| land which are thus put beyond the
reach of settlement
This statement seems plausible only
| TIL the facts are known. In the first
| place, congress has specially provided
| that whatever agricultural land there
| may he In any national forest shall be
open, under proper safeguards, to
| homestead settlement, and In the sec
ond place. when the opponents OF con
| servatlon are asked 10 point out the
| great stretches of incloscd agricultural
| land on the ground ana IN the pres
ence OF experts instead OF In speeches
in hall they fail.
The Reclamation Service.
| The national irrigation congress IL
10 hold II session IN The city OF Pueblo
late In September. | am keenly sorry
that could not have accepted the in
citation to he present. must. how
ever, be In the east at that time. But
since | cannot he present then to ex-
press my keen, long held and deep felt
interest In the reclamation OF arid
lands by the federal government de-
sire TO do 80 now.
There is no more effective lnstru-
ment for the making Of, homes than
the U"'tcd States reclamation service,