Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1912-12-16
ernmental facilities Of the individual

over to them by the nation, the story
has too often been the acquisition OF
these lands aad by special
interests or individuals without ade.
qnate recognition OF the public inter.
est. There is no policy which 1t
would be wise for any state To adopt
with respect to these matters in the
adoption and enforcement Of which it
cannot be supplemented and assisted
rather than &s.crded by the retention
In federal lands OF the. powers and
property now held by the nation. IL
is precisely this policy OF practical
cooperation which should be put into
effect. There is no real conflict he,
tween the nation and the states upon
the subject.
in general all of the streams which
are susceptible Of water power devel.
opment 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 n or more of these uses.
Increasingly that source tends to be
the nation and not the states.
"Some Of the individual states are
developing effective policies of water
conservation, but 1t is the federal
government, after all, which Is called
upon to make the chief expenditures
for the development OF navigation and
for the protection Of the forest cover
around the sources and along the wa
tersheds of both n~avigable and non
navigable streams"
The secretary emphasizes the rec.
Ommendation made in his annual re.
port last year for the need of a com.
prehensive land classification and of
administration based thereon. The
existing statutes, he says, attempt to
recognize in a 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 rec.
ognize the differences, he declares;
and greater difficulties. are found in
the present laws or lack of laws with
regard to other parts of the public do.
main. especially our timber lands, our
grazing lands. u water power and
reservoir sites and our lands contain.
ing coal, oil, gas, asphalt, potash, nj.
trates and phosphates."
Secretary Fisher recommends the
adoption of constructive legislation
with respect to water power develop.
ment and the control and the compre.
hensive application Of the leasing sys'
TEN to the development Of our pub.
lie coal, oil, gas, asphalt. nitrate, pot.
ash and phosphate lands, with ap.
propriate provision for the protection
OF p~rospectors during a reasonable ex.
ploration period preliminary to the
leasing Of the land" He points to the
fact that in the Appalachian noun.
tains the National Forest Reservation
commission is now buying lands upon
which timber can be raised blt not
good for agricultural purposes. for
conserving the waters at the heads of
n%avigable streams.
1T is inexcusable," he declares, ito
permit public lands Of this character
to be acquired now by private inter.
eses, when we are spending public
moneys 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 similar situation to those now being
bought in the East, he adds, and
these should be retained by the gov
eminent in order that the streams
whose .headwaters they protect may
be made as useful as possible. l 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 it
their acquisition by private interests
is permitted the usual destructive et-
fects will follow. 1t is not proposed
to include lands whose value for 9th.
er purposes IS greater titan their
value to the community for stream
protection"
AS to homestead law legislation, the
secretary says he is still of the same
opinion, in spite OF a somewhat diff.
ferent law passed last June, that "tle
homestead settler should be excused
from the necessity Of residing dpon
his land during the first two years
after entry, provided he substituted
for residence during that period the
improvement and cultivation of a sub.
stantial portion Of the ground" The
law passed, he says, is being admins.
tered to encourage as much as pos.
sible the bona fide settler.
The whole development of Alaska,
he reports, is waiting largely upon the
passage of suitable legislation for the
development of its transportation ia
cilities and of it's coal lands.
AS to the Reclamation Service, he
says the problems confronting that bu.
reau "are rapidly becoming those Of
administration rather than engineer.
ing. Financial and technical ques.
tons Of building shrink into i1signih.
canoe compared with the lore diff.
cult human problem Of dealing with
thousands of settlers and CT inducing
them to take action along lines which
will lead to the greatest individual
success" r
MINNEAPOLIS LADY BADLY
ScAL0E0 WHILE COOKING.