The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1913-10-30
THE BLIGHT or CONSERVATION

The blighting effect of "bottling up,
In the name Of conservation and other
imaginary pretexts, third or more
Of the area and resources Of the great
west Is being keenly felt In every
western state. The surprise Is that
1t has gone on SO long without greater
manifestation Of displcasure. Whole
sale Withdrawals Of the public domain
and natural resources, the creation Of
forest and other government reserves
have barred progress, practically
stopped immigration to the west and
driven desirable population to a for
egn land. 1t has set Alaska back for
a generation. Under the cloak Of
conservation" 1t has seemed possible
to follow any conception of the theor-
list, whatever the damage
The late Senator Hepburn, of this
state, was ten years in advance Of
popular realization Of this damaging
so-called conservation system. His
public utterances when fighting it al
most single handed seem prophetic
at this day.
! An able address on this subject was
recently delivered at the Philadelphia
mining congress by Senator John f.
Shafroth of Colorado. The following
comment ON his remarks, from the
San Francisco Chronicle is pointed
and instructive:
AT the Miners Congress at Phila-
delphia Senator John f. Shafroth of
Colorado uttered an emphatic protest
against the steady encroachment of
the federal authorities on the rights
and revenues of the states by the per-
manent appropriation of public lands
which the federal government holds
only for the purpose of sale to private
parties or as trustee for the states.
1.-The purchase price of the land be-
longs to the federal government, but
its usufruct forever, which is of infn-
itely greater value. does not belong to
the federal government. To seize it is
usurpation, which, il permitted, will
impoverish and cripple the states.
"The senator states that there are
in Colorado lands containing coal
which when extracted may be worth
a billion dollars or more from which
the state Is not, according to federal
contention, to be allowed one dollar Of
revenue. These lands should be sold
so that they can be taxed, or. if they
are to be retained in public ownership
they should be controlled by the state
and not the federal government. And
the right to use water and cut timber
Is in the same category.
And. moreover the laws Of the
state. including the law of eminent
domain, should run unhampered by
any federal bureaucracy on every acre
Of territory within its boundaries.
"The situation is the same in this
and all other western states. In Cal
ifornia the state laws are flouted and
defied over nearly one-third of our
territory, nor, within that area, is the
state able to collect one dollar of rev.
enue.
"The Chronicle insists that the next
United States senator from this state
shall be from among those who may
declare that the federal government
has no rights whatever in the public
! domain except as trustee for the dis
posal of the lands and has absolute
ly no political right whatever other
than that which 1t exercises over the
entire area of the state--outside the
public domain as well as in It,
"And no man is fit to be senator
who Is not so impressed with the i'm
portance of this issue at this time as
to publicly and habtually proclaim
his views upon every suitable occa-
sion"