The Monte Vista journal., 1913-01-18

ting our lands and resources on ten
antry basis to pay taxes into the fed
eral treasury. We will never be
able to settle our lands and i'm
prove them properly unless the peo.
pie can own them. We can never
expect to discover and develop our
mines If the hope Of ownership is not
held out to the prospector and miner.
II we are to discover uses for our
great variety Of new resources, we
must offer ample inducement for ex-
perimentation and investment 1t is
safe to predict that little improve
ment will ever be made on a ten
nntry basis. The development of
every one of our natural resources.
land included, has been attended by
unusual problems, difficulties and ex.
pense. Not one of them was natu
rally ready for use and all the value
that has been added to them has been
measured by study, experiment, labor
and expense upon which in the aver
age but fair return has been realized.
Before the white man came with his
courage and industry to search and
dig the precious metals from the
mountains, to construct bitches and
turn the desert into fertile fields, to
replace the wolf and the bear with
useful domestic animals, to build
cities and towns ana country homes
to blast highways through the noun
tain cahons, to harness our streams
and convert their power into useful
channels, to erect churches and
school houses, to establish great edu-
cational and charitable institutions.
and to rear a splendid social fabric
here, there was not q dollar of value
in cippIo N q trr nit ~
boundaries of this state
The gold had remained undiscovered
in the hills, and useless for untold
centuries, the inhabitants had no use
for coal, the forests were burned to
make way for berry patches and hunt
ing grounds. The streams ran use
| lessly and undisturbed to the sea, and
all were worthless. 1t required the
venturesome pioneer, with his intrepid
| zeal, to lay the foundation of a great
| state. His laws and customs were
| built on experience and justice. Upon
| the foundation SO well laid by him. our
hardship and genius and industry have
| measured every dollars worth of value
| in our natural resources by dollars
worth of human toll We have a right
| to these resources with which to build
our state
A sensible solution of the public do
main question is to turn the public
lands and resources over to the states
in which they lie. The citizens of
these states have a better understand
ing of their needs than outside people
possibly could have. They have a
greater interest than anyone else in
proper administration of these lands.
The excuse for fosting the reserva.
ton policy upon the West is the
feigned purpose OF preventing mo-
nopoly. The real reason is to place
our lands and resources upon a reve-
nue. basis to the federal treasury. IL
public ownership of lands and re-
sources is the only means of prevent
ing monopoly, what is to become of
that portion of our great country lying
east of the Mississippi river. and con.
tanning vastly more than half and
therefore the dominating portion of
our entire population, and if those
people cannot control the property
they own there, how are they to con-
| troll it here?
The General Assembly should me-
| morialize President Wilson and Con-
| gress, setting forth in detail sugges-
| tions Of changes in administration of
the public domain to comply with the
best requirements for settlement, de-
velopment and local taxation.
Employ6s' Compensation Commission.
The Employees Compensation Com
mission appointed by the Eighteenth
General Assembly. am told, has not
completed its investigations, and
should be continued either to report
at the next session of the General As
sembly or to initiate a law covering
the subject.
Fairs and ExpositIons.
| III we are to make creditable show.
ing at the Panama Exposition in 1915,
the present General Assembly must
| provide for 1t. | am advised that all
the western states are making unusual
efforts to advertise their products and
opportunities at this great fair. The
people Of Colorado VIII not want to
be left behind. Our financial condition
VIII prevent our doing as much as we
would like to do, and the situation 10
complicated from the fact that the
exposition will in reality be divided
into two parts-one portion located at
San Francisco and the other at San
Diego. In addition to this, Colorado
intends to provide an attractive pa
geant to induce visitors to the big
shows on the coast to stop In this
state, view our mountain scenery, en-.
| Joy our unequaled climate, and inves.
tigate our splendid opportunities.
| Whatever funds the state can spare
for this great exposition should be
| placed In the hands OF a most compe-
tent board, that they may be used to
| the best possible advantage To pro-