The Glenwood post., 1912-10-26
4. l. DICKSON, Editor aad Proprietor
PRESIDENT TAFT GIVES VIEWS
ON FOREST RIGHTS OF MINERS
Assures G. T. Kennan That Everything
Possible Will Be done to Encour
age Prospecting in National
Forests

c. T. Kennan of Eagle, Colo, at
dressed letters to the three leading
candidates for president of the United
States, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow
Wilson and William Howard Taft, ask
ing them to write him their views on
the rights of the mine owners and the
prospectors in the national forests.
Candidates Wilson and Roosevelt have
not as yet replied Under date of Oc-
tober IL, President Taft wrote Mr..
KEENAN,:
Beverly, Mass, Oct. IL, 1912.
Ny Dear Sir-Your letter of Sep
tember 1lth is received. l am glad of
the opportunity which it gives me to
point out what the rights of the miners
on national forests now are, and how
the forests affect the mining industry.
There are now prevalent certain mis-
conceptions in this matter My i'm
preston is that they prevail less among
prospectors and miners who are actual
ly seeking and developing claims and
mines on national forests than among
miners and others who have not per-
sonal knowledge of existing conditions
I am informed that a somewhat ex-
tensive inquiry made by the forest
service in 1909 among Colorado miners
those interviewed the sentiment of 50
per cent was favorable to the national
forest policy. l need not point out 70
You, / am sure, that it is the interests
of the maiority which must be consid
cred, rather than those of small mi
nority whose personal interests happen
to be unfavorably affected by gener
ally beneficial system
1t must be borne in mind that those
who are d satisfied naturally clamor
for change, while the much larger
number who are not salts fled are likely
to be heard from. 1t is necessary for
the government, however, to seek the
greatest good to the greatest number
You speak of ''the test cases still
pending in the proposed elimination OF
mining lands, principally above timber
line, from the Holy Cross national for
est On May 25, 1910, you requested
such an elimination, covering total
of 81 sections, and were informed bv
the actin" secretary of agriculture that
invest cations showed total stand of
75.000,000 feet of merchantable timber
and % 600 cords of cOrdwood on these
sect ons, that the locating and patent
ing of mining claims on the area is go
ing on co1tinually and that legitimate
mining interests appeared to be in no
way hindered through the fact that the
land was located within national for
est. \ subsequent letter from the act
ing secretary Of agriculture pointed out
TO you that decision as to the validity
of claims rendered only by the proper
offic ais of the department of the in
terror, governed entirey by the federal
mining laws and state laws and locel
customs; That in no case is an uufavor-
able report ma lc except after examinl-
tion by s2eoiallv qualified expert min
ers; that mining laws are appl cable in
their entirety upon national forests;
that to el inmate small areas of nom
forested land above timber line would
increase the difficulty and cost of all
ministering the nat oaal forests with
out benefitiHg mine owners in regard
TO their timber supply which would
still have to be secured from the ad
jaeent national forests under the regl-
lations necessary to conserve the forest:
and that the regulations now provide
for the timber needs Of prospectors ami
miners, either by free use or, where
free use cannot be allowed by sale.
1 am informed that the forest service
never refuses free use of timber to
prospectors who have not suitable and
sufficient timber on their own lands or
claims, or to miners not owners of pro
ducing mines or not able to employ
several or many men for wages or who
cannot reasonably be expected to pur.
chase.
Your three demands appear, there
fore, to be either irrelevant or contrary
to the interests of the mining industry
generally. The first would mean that
miners now able to draw upon national
forest timber supplies, on liberal terms,
should be permitted to destroy the for
ests at will, without supervision to pre-
vent waste or provision for new growth.
and with withdrawal of all protection
BY the government against fire. This
would mean that the miners themselves
would sooner or later be left without
any local timber available, and would
either have to pay heavily for timber
from q distance or shut down. Your