The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1912-12-17
FISHER ON LEASING.


partmcnt desires 20 retain tho title I,
the public domain that is left and al
low its use only on leasing PROPOSE
| ton; this especially is applied 4
lands which contain coal, oil, gas
asphalt, nitrate. potash, and phosphate
with reasonable provision for tn,
protection of prospcctors during n rea
sonabIc exploration period preIminar,
10 the leasing of the land - He de
clares in favor Of the retention of th'
ownership by the government Of tim
bcr lands at the head Of streams, bu
makes no recommendations for tht
asccrtainment of the boundaries O.
such timber lands, nor for the releasing
Of land that is merely serviceabIe foi
grazing purposes. Apparently he
wishes to hold all Of the grazing re
serves that have been withdrawn, and
add TO them. But these grazing re
serves have nothing to do with the
timber; the grazing lands never had
any timber on them. and probably
never viii have. Certainly there is no
effort on the part OF the Forestry Ser.
vice to plant trees on those lands. To
grow trees on them would be to DESTROY
their value for grazing
But it is not contended that the
withdrawal of lands which are used
merely for grazing privileges can have
any effect upon the retention of water
or SHOWS at the heads OF streams. I'm
timbered regions have no special re-
tanning quality in this respect, and
especially if the lands are closely
grazed the effect is to pack the earth
so that water would run off without
obstruction.
1t is not easy to see what advantage
Secretary Fisher sees to the country at
large in the retention Of the compare.
lively Insignificant fraction of the pub.
lie domain that remains, the most Of
it having been freely taken by set
tiers. To allow the use OF this remnant
only as leasing proposition would
be to reduce the occupants Of that
laad TO serfs or common laborers for
the service of the State, something like
the system established by Joseph in
Egypt for the benefit of Pharaoh, where
the people sold all that they had, in
Guiding their lands and themselves, to
the State for sustenauce. It is in the
highest degree improbable that the
Congress Of the United States would
consent to the establishment of any
such system Of land serfdom in this
country.
If tho government wishes to retain
timber or brush at the headwaters Of
streams, it should make systematic
survey of the streams and Of what.
ever timber or brush may be service
able for the holding of SHOWS or the
of water, and reserve such
tracts only as will be noticeably use
full in this respect. Nothing of that
kind has been done, however, and ap.
parently nothing OF the sort is pro,
posed. The blanket reserves are estab-
lished without any real reference to
reservations are made, and thew in.
clude far more Of land absolutely use
less for the purpose pretended than
they do of lands that are possible for
such use,
Whatever there may be in the hold.
ing of land in the primitive or natural
state for The purpose Of restraining
floods, (but which usefulness is abso.
lutcly denied by Willis Moore, Chief OF
the Weather Bureau, and other ex-
perts,) there should surely be an in.
telligent and actual survey made OF the
land supposed to be useful for such
purpose, and that alone reserved. The
vast areas not useful for this purpose.
but now withdrawn ostensibly there
for, should be released for the public
There has never been in this country
any system Of land peonage. On the
contrary, the policy of the United
States has always been to release title
10 the public domain to actual settlers
for the purpose of building up free
American homes, and so that the land
,oDu Oe ldASu 1OT JuDilc purposes, as
t cannot be if the title remains in the !
Government The new propo- !
'ltion to make the occupants Of the !
public domain simply tenants at will or |
IN suferance or leasehold on the pub !
ic domain is something so repugnaut !
o American traditions, so revolving !
o the American idea Of free men and |
rec homes, that we are surprised to
ice IL so repeatedly and vebemently !
recommended by Secretary Fisher !
There is only one thing to say with re-
,ard TO that sort of thing, and that is
hat the American public will naturally
cJoice when man who holds this an
jent fcudal and utterly vicious idea
bout the retention of the public do.
main in the hands of the government
n place of allowing free men to oc.
upy il and obtain title from the Gov
will pass from Office with the
incoming OF the new administration. \
there has never been any possibility Il