Tonopah daily bonanza. [volume] (Tonopah, Nev.) 1906-1929, 1911-01-19
States Rights Again.

OtdCcS Nights ASdlus
The old states rights doctrine is revived by
a suit before the Supreme Court of the United
States, in which the state of Colorado is inter
venor cattleman of the state, prosecuted for
infringement of the forest reserve regulations,
carried his case to the highest tribunal of the
land, and then the state took hand The
brief filed by the attorney general of Colorado,
intervenor, attacks the legality of the forest
reserves or rather disputes the right of the fed
eral government to take these lands out of the
control of the states 1t declares the withdrawal
of part of a state s area from taxation and
from the operation of some parts of the state
laws is in despoment of the rights guaranteed
by the whole people to the state, discrminatory
as between Colorado and other states in which
no such usurpation has been attempted, unjust
and injurious to the people of the state, against
sound public policy Of the United States and
at any rate, utterly outside the power of con-
gress
The suit like the bred Scott CASEY may be
an epoch-marking one Everyone can realize its
supreme Importance since, aiming at determin-
ing the respective rights Of the government and
of the states in matter where both are involved,
such as the public lands, it goes to the very
structure of our government. 1t is the states
rights doctrine more. And it may be said
that the determination Of this suit. and the cor
pOration tax now before the Supreme Court
definitely
Commenting upon the suit, it is rather sur
prising to find so sound and sane a journal
as the San Francisco Chronicle condemning the
forest reserve scheme in no unhestant terms
1t says:
AS to the merits Of this national forest
matter, it is sufficient to say that, regard
less of the evident high personal char
acter of most of the present forestry Of
ficials no administration of the forests
from Washington fail to be costly and
inefficient, and that in the course of years
it must become utterly corrupt. No other
civil service affords such opportunities for
deep-seated corruption as a permanent
forestry service and the only way to APP
proach any control of it is to have the
sponsible officials under the eye and sub
ject to the power of the states in which
they exercise their functions.
It would seem to the average layman that if
we have any law statute books which
iustifes it's passage by the results following, 1t
is the law creating the forest reserves. Not
only has it saved millions Of acres of timber
land from exploitation by the timber trusts and
by individual greed, but it has conserved the
sources of water supply and, by an efficient for
estry service has lessened the annual loss from
fires by millions of dollars The results SO
far have warranted the passage Of the law, and
proved the contentious OF the advocates 'Ol Gne
system.
What would be gained by turning these
lands over to the states FOR control and regula
ton? In lieu Of uniform scheme of manage
ment and control, as at present, under state reg
ulation we would likely have many different
systems for forest management as there woulo
be states. Admitting, too, that in time the fed
eral forest service must become more or less
corrupt no sensible man will argue for an in
slant there would be less corruption under state
boards.
With the air full Of allegations, about this
season of the year, Of venalty on the part q
various state boards and bureaus it is certainly
not likely that a state board of forestry, in any
state the mind suggests, would escape the gen
eral contagion With the control of our forests
in the hands Of thirty state boards, there woult
) exactly thirty times more opportunity to-
crookedness in their management than at presen
with them under the direction Of one fedora
bureau This is the common-sense and log
Of the proposition
So far as the states rights are involved il
the contention, it may be logically argued tina
if the states have managed to get along al
these years with the public lands under tn
control and disposition Of Uncle Sam, there j
no reason why they should not manage to exs
a while longer with the forests under the sam
safe management. The point, it seems to us
il raised rather late in the day