The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1911-07-27

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came before the Cabinet late in that
month he found objection to it. His
reasons for taking this stand he ex
plains in his message in part as fol-
lows
Dissatisfaction Expressed
Il expressed dissatisfaction with
the order because it purported on its
face to make the elimination for the
benefit of railroad company Of
tract of land which the company could
not by lawful entry secure, for 1t was
tract 800 acres in one body when
only 100 acres could thus be acquired.
In the second place, I preferred to
make a much larger elimination of
tract facing the entire channel, and
with sufficient room for a terminal
railway town. was willing to do
this because I found the restrictions
| In the law sufficient to prevent the
possibility of any monopoly of either
the upland or the harbor or channel
by the Controller Railway and Navi-
cation Company or any other persons
or company. Because of a lack of
time sufficient to draft a memorandum
myself, I requeted the Secretary of
the Interior, who, with the Secretary
of Agriculture, after full dicussion,
had agreed in my conclusion to pre-
pare a letter setting forth the reas-
ons for making the larger elimination,
so that 1t might become a part of the
record.
Il wish to be as specific as possi-
BILE upon this point, and to say that
alone am responsible for the enlarge
ment of the proposed elimination from
320 acres to 1883 acres, and that
proposed the change and stated my
reasons therefor, and while both sec
retaries cordially concurred in II the
suggestion was mine"
The President says he had every
assurance at the time that the Con-
troller Railway and Navigation Com
pany wss an Independent enterprise
working in all good faith, and that no
evidence to the contrary has since
been brought to his attention "Of
course it was possible" he continues,
that the owners of the Copper River
Railway Company" (Messrs. Morgan
and Guggenheim) might attempt 10
buy this railroad when and if it we-7
built. 1t was possible that Mr.. Ryan
was acting for the interests of the
Copper River Railroad. although I did
not believe it: but whether this was
true or not it was clear that the order
of elimination by reason of the re-
strictions of the act of Congress
woIld not permit the owners of eth
er railroad to shut out any other cap
italists." Moreovers he states, the
rates to be charged would be always
subject to congressional control and
il government ownership seemed the
wise policy under the peculiar cir
cumstances condemnation was an
easy method.
Conservation OF Resources.
81 am as strongly convinced as any
one of the necessity for the conserva-
of our national resources" says the
President "and as much opposed as
anyone to their monopolization by
large corporations, but my convictions
on this point did not deter me from
taking the step which I hoped might
lead to encouraging the construction
CT railway from Controller Bay to
the Bering coal fields. I thought the
pairing down of the amount of public
land to he acquired for terminals by
the Hallway company proposing to
bhild the railroad was a poor policy
and one not calculated to secure in
vestment or speedy construction"
The President goes on to explain
that there are iron-bound limitations
covering the method for securing title
f0r government lands and for this
reason he feels no fear of any inter-
est obtaining monopoly Briefly the
iestrictions are:
First: Not more than 100 acres ca,i
be entered in a single body by scrip.
Second: No location of scrip along
any navigable river or other waters
can be made within eighty rods of any
lands along such waters, and no entry
can be allowed extending more than
100 rods along the shore of any nav
gable water; and along such shore
space of at least eighty rods must be
reserved from entry between all such
claims.