Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1910-09-01

handicap or exclude the small man by
requiring him to spend more money
for FENCES than he can afford, and IL
must IeaNe every acre that can De set
tied by bona-fde homesteaders freely
open to such settlement.
90 not believe that single acre of
our pubic lands should hereafter pass
into private ownership except for the
single purpose OF homestead settle
ment. and know that the stockmen
stano with me in their desire to re-
move every obstacle from the path of
the genuine homesteader and to put
every possible obstacle in the pathway
OF the man who tries TO get public
LANDS by representation or fraud.
This IS absolutely necessary on the
agricultural lands. 1t is at least equal
~ necessary on the mineral lands. It
would be a calamity, whose balefu1 eff
feet on the average citizen we can
scarcely exaggerate, if the great stores
OF coal and other mineral fuels still
owned by the people in Alaska and
elsewhere should pass into the unregu-
lated 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
lrrlgatoFS in California, and the sup
porters of the country life movement
in and around Spokane l want to
make my Acknowledgements in partic-
ular TO the Colorado Forestry associa-
ton, which has supported the forest
work OF the government with such I'M
seIhsh zeal. The forest service has
enemies because it is effective. Some
nf hoe
bitterest opposition. For example, 1t
has done a real service by blocking
the road against the grabbers of water
power, and again by standing like a
rock against the demands of bogus
mining concerns to exploit the national
forests 1 have always done my best
to help the genuine miner. 1 believe
that one of the first duties of the gov
eminent is to encourage honest mining
on the public lands. But it is equally
important to enforce the law firmly
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
forests inclose great areas of agricul-
tural land which are thus put beyond
the reach of settlement. This state
ment seems plausible only till the facts
are known. In the first place, congress
has specially provided that whatever
agricultural land there may be in any
national. forest shall be open, under
proper safeguards, to homestead set
tlement. And in the second place, when
the opponents of conservation are ask
ed to point out the great stretches of
inRlnGA6 crrin
ground and in the presence of experts,
instead of in speeches in a hall, they
fail.
Reclamation Service.
The National Irrigation Congress is
to hold a session in the city of Pueblo
late in September. [ am keenly sorry
that l could not nave accepted the
invitation to be present. / must, how
ever, be in the East at that time. But
since 1 cannot be present then to ex-
press my keen, long held, and deep-felt
interest in the reclamation of arid
lands by the federal government,
desire to do so now. There is no more
effective instrument for the making of
homes than the United States Recla-
nation Service, and no government bu-
reau while l was President had reach
ed higher standard of efficiency, in
tegrity and devotion to the public well
fare.
Like the Forest Service, the Reclama-
ton Service has clashed with certain pri-
vate interests, and has had to pay the
penalty of its service to the public in the
form of bitter opposition from those with
whose profit it has interfered The cry
mas been raised against it that the gov
eminent must not do for its citizens at a
less cost what private interests are ready
to make them pay for at higher prices
Now, 1 believe fully in the private de-
Velopment of irrigation projects which the
government cannot undertake. There is
large and legitimate field for such work
But the essential thing is to make homes
on the lands, not to enable individuals to
profit from the necessities of the men who
make those homes. There is no more
warrant for Directing to the reclamation
of arid lands by the government than
there would be to protest against the gov
eminent for patenting agricultural lands
directly to the actual settler, instead of
through a middleman, who could make a
profit from the transaction. The men who
assert themselves at the cost of the COM
munity instead of by service to the COM
munity we have always had with US, and
doubtless we always shall. But there is
no reason why we should yield to them.
The Reclamation Service has not done so,
and that is the chief reason for the at
tacks upon it.
l don't think that there is one among
you who is a better and more thorough
going westerner than I am. There has
been no support given to the conserva-
ton policies so welcome as that which
came from the west, and none in the
west more welcome than that which came
from Colorado. There are men and or
CARNATIONS in Colorado, and I mention
Delta in particular, whose support of the
conservation policies has been of the
greatest value to the Nation. 1t has not
always been easy thing for them to
stand for what was right, to stand for
the real ultimate good as against the
seeming temporary good; but they have
stood for it steadily nevertheless.
From the standpoint of conservation
the east has wasted much of its own
superb endowment; and as an American,
a lover of the west, / hope that the
west will profit by the casts bitter les
son. and will not repeat the mistakes OF
the east The east has wasted it's re-
sources, it suffers from the effect of the
waste, which now puts it at a disa dvan-
tage compared to the west, and it is
sorry. Most of the capital and very
many of the men now attempting to
monopolize your western resources are
the lesson of the casts mistakes, and it
should remember that conservation in
the west will help the west first and
most and that the movement for con-
Serva ton is most earnest, most vigorous,
and most effective in the west and among
western men That is one strong reason
why the conservation policy has come to
stay.
Frequent Changes of Name.