The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-01-18
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAsKIN. Director.
Washington, d. @.
SHALL THE FORESTS CHANGE
KEEPERS?

I
/ reorganization scheme-to take the
national forests out of the jurisdiction
of the department of agriculture and
place them under that of the depart
ment of the interior.
/ Ostensibly, of course, there is no
struggle between the two departments,
no difference of opinion or desire be-
tween the two cabinet officers at their
| heads, no rift in the administration
| lutte. None of these things ever ap-
pears on the surface. Nor do the
| ostensible reasons for the proposed
transfer suggest any issue worth strug-
Cling over. But the ostensible reasons
are not the real ones.
/ What everyone really familiar with
/ the situation sees in the proposed
| transfer is an effort to modify the
! Rooseyelt-Pinchot policy of careful
| conservation in favor of one which
will allow a much freer use OF the
! timber, grazing and other natural re-
sources under the protection of the
! forest service. "Freer use" is the term
used by the friends of the proposed
! change Exploitation is the word
( the conserva tionists prefer. You can
take your choice.
That a change of policy in the ad-
ministration Of the forests is the thing
aimed at is evidenced in various ways
| For one thing, it is known that the
|
a part of the interior department
originated with Secretary of the In
/ terror Fall. and Mr.. Fall has repeat
| edly placed himself on record as IA
voring A much freer use of natural
resources and as opposed to the con-
servation policy which has been fol-
lowed in this country since Roosevelts
administration. and which is regarded
| by many persons both here and in
/ Europe as the most successful of
I American administrative achieve
/ ments.
The Pioneer Policy.
Secretary Falls attitude is the most
interesting factor in the situation
Some of his enemies have described
him as the agent of certain western
capitalistic interests which desire to
i exploit the forest resources, and there
fore as not sincere in his proposed
: policy. But there is evidence that he
! is perfectly sincere.
| Mr.. Fail is an American of the van
ishing pioneer type, which will be for
ever extinct in this country in another
generation. He went to New Mexico
as a young man when the southwest
was truly wild country. AS every
one knows, to the pioneer of that era
the natural resources of the country
seemed inexhaustible. The vast for
| ests, the seemingly limitless prairies,
the herds of buffalo that reached far
Their than one could see-al of these
were surely more than man could
ever use. The difficult thing was to
subdue and master nature, to bring any
| part of this wild treasure under mans
control. Nature to the pioneer was
not a thing to be studied and cared
for. She was a grim enemy for strong
men to fight. Game was to be killed,
| forests to be felled, land to be
pIoughed. The pioneer developed to-
! ward the natural resources of the
earth an aggressive, embattled atti-
tude. He rejoiced in every dent that
Iman's energy made on the wilderness.
and he hated the sight of the wilder
ness unconquered.
The typical pioneer has never got
over his attitude, just as he has never
/ got over his hatred of the Indians.
And Secretary Fall seems to be the
nearly always have the ring of sin
certify, and they express that pioneer
attitude toward nature in all its SIM
pncity.
Man cannot exhaust the resources
! of nature and never WILL" he pro-
claimed in an interview published III
the Colorado Springs Gazette. Septen-
| Der 20, 1921. And this premise he fol-
lowed with several logical conclusions
| from it.
"All natural resources should be
made as easy of access as possible to
/
/ of his expressions, and he also an
nounced that there is enough timber
rotting every year to supply the nor
NAL demand"
Can Resources Be Exhausted?
Now the friends of the Roosevelt
policy of conservation in all parts of
| the country have seized upon such ex-
| pressions as these and made a Roman
holiday. 1t scarcely seems necessary
to set forth their rebuttai, which the
| intelligent American newspaper reader
] will easily imagine With regard to
the secretary's great major premise
that natural resources are ine1hauSti-
lble, the conservationists have pointed
out that this, as a matter of fact, APP
| plies only to air and water, and they
go on to give the long list of natural
| resources that have been exhausted
| or impaired in this country. If the
! secretary is right in saying that nat
ural resources should be made as
easily accessible as possible, then they
urge, the whole science OF conserva-
| ton, as practiced all over the civilized
world is a mistake This science
which has enabled the French and the
German to perpetuate their forests
and game down thru the centuries. the
| lack of which has left SO much of
/ China a barren waste torn by floods,
| is really all unnecessary. In fact, the
| secretary seems to have taken, in his
I
and lonely position where the con-
servationist snipers can crack away a.
/ him from several different directions,
and they have not neglected the op-
portunity.
| This, then, is the real issue behind
/ the transfer project. The only estensi-
Bile reason brought forward for it is
that the interior department is the Of
/ fetal real estate office of the nation
and should have charge of all land
deals to prevent duplication. The
! forest service has certain grazing
/ rights to lease and a limited and
diminishing number of homesteads to
give away along streams The interior
| department, it is claimed. should ex-
ercise these functions. But it also
wants the forests themselves. This,
! the conservationists say. is a case of
/ demanding the hide because you de-
serve the tail and the two cannot be
/ separated But this whole contention
/ is a minor one, a smoke screen to hide