New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-09-29
'BALL|NGER ASSA|LS
. BUREAUCRATIC RULE
Says He Saw an Example OF 1t
When He Headed interior
Department.
A PUBLIC LAND SCHEME
Meant to Take Power Away from
Him, He Asserts - Hits
"Reformers Who Do
Not Reform.

Denver. Sept. &.-RiChard a. Ballnger
eN-Sccrctary Of the Interior. in an address
to the public lands convention here to-day
denounced what he termed a tendency
toward bureaucratic government in
America and declared that certain reform
ers were introducing doctrines which are
the antithess Of reform" He took ocCa-
sion to reply TO an address recently made
at Seattle by Walter l.. Fisher his sue
cessOr in the Interior Department. MI.
Bsllinger said in part:
The extent 10 which bureaucratic am
hition may be carried can perhaps be Illus
trated best by the scheme. al one time SCI
ouslN considered by certain bureau headS
10 diSmember the Interior Department by
taking from II all those bureaus thst hdd
anything TO do with the public domain ana
together with the Forestry Bureau, cpncen-
trate them in another department, where
their combined strength could be utilized
TO promote the propaganda designed 10
operate the public domain as a national es-
tate for the conservation Of certain bureau
chiefs. The Interior Department was 10
be left with the Patent Office, the PENSION
Office and the eleemosynary institutions.
! Even the national parks were TO be taken
from il and patrolied by men I'm green UNI
forms. the grazing lands were TO be ledS"d
, to the influential and more powerful stock
men: the forests held or disposed or IN con-
1 junction with the timber barons: the min
tldl idINS lliItu OF lctSt VI 10y ilAN ~
those who would contribute their support
to this politico-bureaucratiCa COmbina-
| ton, and the water powers and rights Ct
way distributed on a permit basis so as TO
hOld the permittee as a NaSSdI 10 the SCI .
vice. Finally, agricultural lands. at least
in reserves, were TO be held on equally
I subservient and perilous tenure
No more gigantic political scheme mas
ever been attempted i'm the history Of the
Republic Its greatest danger has been in
its appeal to sentmentality and the deliorr
crate and persistent misrepresentation 9i
/ facts; as. for instance, that the coal Woulu
| be consumed In fifty years. the timber IN
an equal period. the water powers monop-
OliZed, the watersheds denuded, and pos
| terry left naked and unprotected. The
good intentions were all placed in the
| headlines-the motives were masked IN
| platitudes
All OF this had left the public I'm the
same condition as the man who has been
! on a pTotracted drunk, with his head
| swelled, his mind uncertain and his pur-
poses confused.
The very Isolation of Alaska and her in
| hospitable climate should move the gov
eminent to give her greater freedom Of
development in respect 20 her natural re-
sources. StI should. least Of all terrific
I ries be burdened with bureaucracy. Gov
! eminent operation OF her railways. her
mines and her ether resources means con-
| tinued defamation Of her population and
| the Withholding Of capital for Investment
! i'm any part Of that region. The frenzied
attitude OF the doctrinaires has already
destroyed her markets for capital, and her
natural wealth is In a fair way TO lie dor
mant until she ceases to be q political
football and sanity again prevails in the
public mind.
Here Mr.. BalllnGer made what was re-
parded as a reply TO Mr.. Fisher. He said;
The rcformer says the hands Of the clock
never turn backward. but is he always
sure the reforms he advocates are not the
renewal Of discarded doctrines which were
i'm their day the antithesiS Of reform? Are
We progressing when We advocate the doc
tiine Of federal oppression against which
every line of the Constitution cries out?
Is IT, progress or the advancement of pop
ular rights to give unb1idled power to
bureaucrats? No, It is going back TO the
evils We struggled TO cmancipate ourselves
| from Again, is il progress and SOUND re-
form 10 say We viii no longer tolerate the
system which gave fee simple title TO
the industrious and courageous prOspector
and settler i'm the public lands; a system
which has made the great mass Of our
people home builders and the builders Of
new commonwealth stored with wealth
! ard civic progress unrivalled in all the
range Of human endcaVor?
Mr.. BaIlinger won the applause of the
advocates of state control, who appear TO
| be i'm control OF the convention. The tenn
/ per OF the delegates was made plain by
| the reception given to the remarks Of Rep
/ reScnidtlhe FRANK W. MOnucu, OF NNOln-
! Ing. following his election as temporary
! chairman. lie said:
Shall certain great resources Of the West
| ern States be made source of federal
/ revenues
! SHAH certain great resources of the West.
! err States De placed under federal iurisdC-
! tion. even to the extent OF federal police
! regulation?
! Shall We as citizens Of the Western
/ States. pc compelled to accept certain poll.
| cies Of the national government which in
/ the Development of the resources Of orr
! states widely differcntate Us from the citl-
ZenS of other states?
These questions Mr. Mondell asked the
convention TO consider in las broad a spirit
as the most extreme cOnscrvationists could
hold"
/ That resolutions answering them in a
vigorous negative Will be adopted seems
/ certain.