Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-01-17

WASHINGTON, Jan. 14.-An in
teresting struggle between two de-
partments Ct the Government seems
to have arisen over the proposition
embedded in several bills and also
considered as part of the depart
mental reorganization scheme to
take the national forests out or the
jurisdiction of the Department OF
Agriculture and place them under
tina. of the Department of the In
terror.
Ostensibly, of course, there is no
struggle between the two depart
ments, no difference of opinion or
desire between the two Cabinet OIL
cers at th2:r heads, no rift in the
administration Lutte. None of these
ever appears on the surface. Nor
do the ostensible reasons for the
proposed transfer suggest any issue
worth struggling over. But the os-
tensiple reasons are not the real
ones.
What everyone really familiar
with the situation sees i'll n pro-
posed transfer is an effort to modl-
fy the Roosevelt-Pinchot policy OF
careful conservation in favor of N
which will allow a much freer use
Oh lIt lliliDtI - aSii6 - ots'
natural resources under the protec-
ton of the Forest Service. Freer use
is the terra used by the friends OF
the proposed change. 'Exploita-
tom is the word the conservation
lists prefeI. You can take your
choice.
That a change OF policy in the adj
minlstraticn of the forests is the
thing aimed at is evidenced in var
ious ways. For n thing, it Is
known thai the proposition to make
the Forest Service a part of the IN
terror Department originated with
Secretary Lf the Interior Fail, ana
Mr.. Fall has repeatedly placed HIM
self on record as favoring "a much
freer use CT natural ana
as opposed to the conservation pol
icy which las been followed i'll TINS
country since RooseVelt'S admins
tration. and which IS regarded by
many persons both here and IN Eu-
rope as tle most successful of Am
erican administrative achievements.
The Pioneer Policy
Secretary Falls attitude is the
most interesting factor in the situa-
ton. Some of his enemies have de-
scribed him as the agent of certain
western capitalistic interests which
desire to exploit the forest resources
and therefore as net sincere in his
proposed policy. but there is evil
dence that he is perfectly sincere.
Mr.. Fall is an American of the
vanishing pioneer type, which VIII
be iorever eXtinc- in this country
in aaother generation. He went to
New Mexico as a young man when
the Southwest was a truly WIG
country. AS everyone knows, to the
pioneer o: that era the natural re"
sources of the country seemed IN
eXaauStib.e. The vast forests, the
seemingly tiimitle2s prairies, the
herds of buffalo that reached farther
than one could see--all of these We're,
surely more than man could ever
use. The difficult thing was to sub
due and master nature, to bring
amy part OF this wild treasure under
mans control. Nature to the pioneer
was not o thing to be studied and
cared for. She was a grim enemy
for strong men to fight. Game was
to be killeL., forests to be felled, land
to be ploughed. The pioneer de-
veloped toward the natural resources
of the earth an aggressive, embattled
attitude. lie ref >iced in every dent
tina. man'S energy made on the VII
dcrness aad he hated the sight OF
tho wilderness unConouered.
The typical pioneer has never got
evec this attitude. just as he has
never got over his hatred for the
Indians. And ectetary Fall seems
to he the typical pioneer. His X
pressions nearly always have the
ring of sincerity, and they express
that pioneer attitude toward allure
in alf it's simplicity.
Man can,Nt exhaust the resources
of Nature and never will" he pro-
claimed in an interview published
in the Col RADIO Springs Gazette, of
September 20. 1921. And this pre-
mise he followed with several logical
conclusions from Il
".All ma. lral resources should be
made as cas-! of access as possible TO
this present generation" was an
other of HIS expressions, and he also
announced that There is enough
timber rotting every year to supply
the normal demand
Can Resources BE Exhausted?
Now the friends of the Roosevelt
policy of conservation IN all parts
of the country isave seized upon
such 9ssions as these and made
a Roman holiday. II scarcely seems
necessary 10 set forth their rebuff
tai. which the intelligent American
nexspaper reader Will easily mag
inc. With regard 70 the S~ecretary's
great major prernse that natural