The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1916-09-15
PRESERVING THE PEOPLES HERITAGE.
REPRESENTATIVE SCOTT FERRIS
of Oklahoma, Chairman of House Committee on Public Land
and Author of the Ferris Homestead Law and

of Oklahoma, Chairman of House Committee on Public Lands
and Author of the Ferris Homestead Law and
other Conservation Measures,
There is no need to argue the question OF Conservation to
the American people; they are educated to its Importance and
alive to its necessity. 1t is attempted in this short article
only to show how thoroughly the present Democratic admins
tration has guarded the heritage Of the whole people from eX-
p~lotation and %usurpation by the few and passed or inaugural
ed legislation which will preserve and make useful to the whole
The nation, in spite of the tremendous waste under Re-
publican administrations, is still rich in natural resources and
has vast property interests to be protected. Seven hundred
million acres of unentered, uhapproprated land still remain
in public ownership. Some of it is mountain land, some semi
arid. some almost total waste land. The Wilson policy is II that
this vast domain shall be used for the advancement and good
Of the whole people. not the enrichment of the few. 1t shall
be made habitable and turned into American homes.
The Homestead Law, which has passed the House is now
on the Senate calendar and will soon become a law, enlarges
the homestead unit from $50 to $40 acres, so that an Ameri-
can farmer VIII ma II possible TO go upon ths iand ana eS-
tablish an American home: Thus will the waste places be
made glad and homes take the place of wildernesses.
There is t~hirty-fve million potential horsepower of hydro
electric energy in the United States, six million developed and
in use, twenty-nine million running idly to the sea. Of this
last the Interior Department administers upon about twenty
two million, and about seven million is under the jurisdiction
Of the War Department. But all of it under the determined
policy of President Wilson is being conserved and developed
for the use of present and coming generations of Americans.
The lax laws, the lack of proper laws, the faulty a%dministra-
ton, the exploitation and waste Of our public domain, all have
been remedied and stopped.
A timberess nation is weak at a vital point. The one
hundred and siXty-hve million acres of forest reserves, which
adequate timber supply, have been vigorously protected and
conserved by the Wilson administration. No longer are there
CnDer UnleVeTy, FRAUDS ana QeDTedatOnS.
No chain is stronger than its weakest link; any nation is
crippled which does not possess and control an adequate fuel
supply. The ~ffty-three billion acres Of coal land containing
four hundred and fifty billion tons of coal, still in public own
ership, is an estate belonging to the American people of ines
Unable value. So well has the Wilson administration con-
served this great asset that the most fault-inding opponent
finds no ground to criticism of it.
The recent great development in the use of oil as a motive
power in ships, automobiles, air-ships and various other en-
gines has made it imperative that the five million acres of oil
land still in public possession be most carefully conserved. The
Wilson administration, with true and patriotic foresight, has
established naval reserves in the far west, so that now and in
the lar future our navy, our industries and our homes are as
Sured OF an adequate oil supply. No longer are valuable oil
lands passed to patent at a dollar and a quarter an acre.
How different is this from the Taft Administration The
Ballinger scandals in the west, the Guggenheim scandals in
Alaska, the water site, coal land and oil land grabs on all sides
are fresh in the minds Of the people. But no whisper or scan
administration.
What has been said of the other public lands is true of
the two million seven hundred and eighty thousand acres of
phosphate lands, which contain roughly twenty billion tons
of phosphate easily worth ninety billion dollars and available to
american farmers for fertilization purposes. Here, too, the
Wilson administration has exercised the same vigilance and
care and there is the same absence of criticism.
Alaska, that wonderful s~tOre-house of riches, was by
preceding administrations first maltreated, then neglected.
There were Guggenheim frauds and scandals. Coal, timber
and oil lands, harbOr and wharfage sites were f%rittered awav
With no concern for the rights of the hundred million Amer
leans who owned them. Then when public opinion became ont
ragged, this regime of waste and exploitation was succeeded by
a period Of stagnatiOn, and Alaska was locked up, its resources
unused, It's growth stopped. 1t fairly began to wither and die.
But with the Wilson administration came a change and
an awakening, a new and better era for Alaska. Fraud and
scandal and rumors of fraud have ceased. Alaska has come
princely worth. "l
The national parks spell health and happiness to the
american people. We have in national parks and monuments
nearly hive million acres. Under the national parks service
law, passed by the Wilson administration, these parks are
being enlarged and beautiied, and made accessible by good
roads.
The CONSERVATION policy and record of achievements
OF PRESIDENT Wilson commends itself with invincible force
10 all Deheyers IN conservation. It has been wise, consistent,
strong and energetic, and great in accomplishment.