Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1912-12-16

mental facilities OF the lndlVldual
/. states.
. while some states undoubtedly
' have wisely conserved certain of the
\ lands and natural resources turned
. over TO them by the nation, the story
. has too often been the acquisition Of
. these lands and resources by special
. interests or individuals without adc
. duate recognition of the public inter
! est, There is no policy which it would
, be wise for any state to adopt with
) respect to these matters in the adOp-
, tiOn and enforcement of which it can
, not be supplemented and assisted
, rather than retarded by the retention
, in federal lands of the powers and the
. property now held by the nation. 1t
/, is precisely this policy of practical CO.
, operation which should be put into ef-
feet, There is no real conflict between
the nation and the states upon the
subject. p SSgT1
! In general all of the streams which
are susceptible of water power de-
Velopment are also of great importance
for domestic use. for irrigation and
for navigation. All of them depend to
some degree upon protection and aid
Of some kind and from some source
for one or more of these uses. Increas-
ingly that source tends to be the ma
ton and not the states
Some of the individual states are
developing effective policies of water
conservation, but it is the federal gov
ernment. after all, which is called
upon 10 make the chief expenditures
for tn" Development of navigation and
for the protectiCn Of the forest cover
around the sources and along the
watersheds Of both navigable and non
.uagigahle streams h
The secretary emphasizes the recon-
mendation made in his annual report
last year for the need of a compre-
hensive land classification and of ad-
ministration based thereon. The ex-
isting statutes, he says, attempt to
recognize in very general and in
effective way the fundamental differ
ences between the different classes
/ of agricultural lands still remaining
in the public domain. The present
system is not flexible enough to recog-
nize the difference, he declares and
greater difficulties are found in the
present laws or lack of laws with re-
gard to other lands of the public do
main especially our timber lands,
ourNrazinS lands, out water power
and reservoir sites and our lands con
tanning coal, oil, gas, asphalt, potash,
nitrates, and phosphates."
Secretary Fisher recommends the
adoption Of constructive legislation
with respect to WaterpoWer develop
ment and the control and the compre-
hensive application of the leasing
system to the development of our
public coal, oil, gas, asphalt. nitrate,
potash and phosphate lands, with
appropriate provision for the protec-
ton Of prospectors during a reason
able exploration period preliminary to
the leasing of the land" He points
to the fact that in the Appalachian
Mountains the national forest reserva-
ton commission is now buying lands
upon which timber can be raised but
not good for agricultural purposes, for
conserving the waters at the heads
OF nayigable streams
1T is ineXcusable," he declares, Ito
permit public lands of this character
to be acquired now by private inter
ests, when we are spending public
money to buy just such lands else
where and may have to repurchase in
the future the very lands from which
the government is now parting" There
are public lands in the west in a SINH
lar situation to those now being
bought i'll the east. he adds, and these
should be acquired by the government
III order that the streams whose
headWaters they protect may be made
as useful as possible | am informed
that there exist areas of public lands
on the headWaters Of streams in the
west, and particularly in the arid
southwest, which should be withdrawn
from entry because ii their acquisition
by private interests is permitted the
usual destructive effects will follow.
1t is not proposed to include lands
whose value for other purposes is
greater than their value to the COM
munity for stream protection. =
As to homestead law legislation, the
secretary says he is still of the same
opinion. in spite of Il somewhat differ
ent law passed last June, that the
settler should be excused
from the necessity of residing upon
his land during the first two years af-
Ter entry. provided he substituted for
residence during that period the i'm
proyement and cultivation of a sub
stantial portion of the ground. The
law passed. he says. is being admins
tered 10 encourage as much as possible
The bona fide settler
The whole development of Alaska,
he reports. is waiting largely upon the
passage of suitable legislation for the
'CNDl n ra6