The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1911-09-26
PRESIDENT TAFT TO
SPEAK AT DENVER


President Taft will speak at the pub
lie lands convention to be held in this
city the last of September. Good.
The News trusts no unforeseen con-
tingency will compel the president to
alter his half-formed plans.
For the public lands convention will
want to hear a number of things con-
eerning which Taft, and Taft alone,
can speak with full authority. The
general line of the public land policies
of the present administration may be
laid down in the Ballinger bills which
the president caused to be drawn and
introduced in congress. But much wa
ter has gone under the bridge since
those bills received their present
form; much hypocritical flapdoodle
about safeguarding the universe for
:" our children s children has been
unmasked; much light has been shed
on the practical difficulties of the So
called conservation program. The
west. and particularly the public lands
conenvtion, would like to know where
President Taft stands on these mat
ters NOW. This is not to imply an
his part 1t is merely a recognition of
the fact that, as yet, the administra-
tion has put forward no plan for deal
ing with the public domain which is
at once workable and equitable. We
trust that the president of the United
States will be satisfied with nothing
| less; and want to know whether he
/ has found it.
| Some things may be said to help
clear the position of the west in this
matter. If conservation means the
opposite to waste, then the strongest
conservationists in the world are to
| be found in this western country No
one defends waste. No one defends
misappropriation. But when the OPP
position to waste and misappropriation
/ is so handled as to invade state and
/ individual rights. check development,
build up federal bureaus with prac-
tically arbitrary powers, and halt
BODYBUILDING activities in nearly a
dozen great states, the people of those
states are likely to raise objections
The so-called conservation program
of the last administration and a part
of the present one was so handled as
to do all these unadvisable things; and,
in addition. to be of the smallest pos
sible use in its original purpose of
hindering waste and thieving.
The west wants homes. To the end
that more homes may be built, the
west wants an extension of the home
stead act. The 100 acres originally
granted as homestead worked well
in the prairie states farther east The
enlarged grant of 800 acres is working
well in some parts of the dry farming
region There is no reason why fur
ther engagements should not be made.
The measure of a homestead is the
amount of land needed to support a
family. Taking this simple definition,
it ought to be possible to have rain
belt homesteads, dry farming home
steads of varying sizes, according to
the richness of the pasturage, and
grazing homesteads for those regions
where actual farming is out of the
question. 1t would take some work to
make the necessary classifications; but
is not the goal abudantly worth the
effort9
The west wants power development.
President Taft, in his st. Paul speech,
said that he believed the best results
in power development would be gain
ed by turning over the power sites now
on the public domain to the states.
We hope the president is of the same
mind in this matter still, and that he
will find some way of translating his
wish into action
And so of the other matters, too
long to discuss in detail. There is no
debate on the proposition that waste
and misrepresentation must be prevent
ed. But the west knows by experience
that no other created thing is so
| afahn fn1 fa1a h,,-
reau; and no misappropriation so final
and irretrievable as that which takes
into the federal treasury the increment
which belongs in the localities from
which it is derived. Secretary Fisher,
indeed, took a comparatively advanced
stand when he said that the income
from the resources of the public do
main did not belong in the national
treasury, but should be spent in the
further development of that domain.
Good and true But to make that plan
work, it is necessary to commit the
administration of those resources to
the communities which are to profit
by them. To do otherwise is to make
the public land states lobbyists for the
favors and pensioners on the bounty
of the national government
Indeed and indeed, there are many
things on which we want President
Taft to talk to us. For example, this
suit to keep waters from being turned
from the western slope where they can
not be used to the eastern slope, where
they can be used. For another exam
ple the management of the forest re-
serves For another example, the coal
deposits. Decidedly, President Taft
will not lack for subjects of interest
4 "a
lands convention. We only trust that
will nacnr -, kaap him auav