Sioux County pioneer., 1922-03-23

-
the national forests as .srecreational.
rivals Of the national parks.
Then came the proposed reOrgani.
zation sof the executive departments,
approved by the President Under.
this reorganization, the Interior de-
partment would become practically q
public works department.. One con-
templated transfer Is that OF tile for
est service from the Agricultural de-
partment. ~ 4
On. top of this came the concern
about the plight Of Alaska, which liz
not prOspering. "Too much bureau.
cratic government was one cry that,
was raised. 1t Is now proposed to
take Alaska out Of the hands of the
many bureaus and hand it over to the
Interior department for administra-
tlon and development. The secretary
is already building the government
Alaskan railroad and controls the loll
and mineral deposits in the national
forests. The two big national for
ests in Alaska are the Tongass and
Chugac, containing 100000 acres. Sec
retary Fall approves this disposition
Of Alaska. 1t has been announced
that President Harding will visit Alas
ka this summer to get first-hand infor.
nation. It was planned that Secre-
tary Fall should be7in the presidential
party. ;,.,s
Naturally the Department of .Agricul-
ture is not pleased with this program.
The American Forestry association
has sent out much .literature''5 pro
testing against it. Some of 1t Is pref
ty strong. The gist Of it is that the
transfer of the national forests means
their exploitation by private inter
ests." Anyway, Secretary Fall says
he Is being held up to "execration,
public abuse and private calumny.'
THE United States has formally de-
j clined the invitation of the allied
powers to participate in the European
financial and economic conference
which is now set for April 10 at Genoa.
The declination runs from Secretary
Of State Hughes to the Italian ambas-
sador, Senator Rice. The document
is gem Of purest ray serene. The
language is friendly, the statements
are. plain, the meaning unmistakable.
In diplomatic terms he says that the.
conference is not primarily economic
but is rather a conference Of d politis
cal character in which. the United;
States cannot helpfully participate.
"Nothing doing. See you later. Wish
ing you good luck, remain, etc.,
is about the way it would read In. the
vernacular. OF course Europe is dis
appointed. It is generally admitted
that the absence of the United States
will detract from the usefulness OF
the conference, But If Europe will not
hold the kind Of conference In which
the United States can helpfully par
ticipate, it must not expect US unnec-
essarily to become involved In Euro
penn questions. Better luck next time,
maybe, when things get down to brass
tacks.
+ LLOYD GEORGE rgsiglning siil III lie Ii, Brit.
- ish premiership doesn't fit in with
American notions@of the little Welsh
wizard. But either he had. 1t EsSeri-
ously in mind-or he ran aagorY&pus
r;bluff. Anyway, he served ID uMhaz4
!. tum on the Tory leaders Of ;the- -cpag
slition party that unless he tcou3d iba!
assured Of loyal support andA OPERA
tion he would resign. Whereupoh all
Britain buzzed like disturbed d4sbee-
hive. Sir Arthur Balfour was named
everywhere as the probable successor.
But the coalition chiefs got busy at
once. Sir George Younger, the union
fst "die-hard'' leader, was made to
step back into the line; it was his
speeches that had forced the issue.
Other leaders publicly voiced their.
confidence in the premier. Balfour,
as conservative leader, put the fln-
ishing touch. by declaring emphat-
ically for. O continuance Of the Goa
lition government and indorsing the
leadership Of Lloyd George. who he.
declared was 'incomparably the great
est figure Of the greatest age; in Brit
ish history. So the crisis has appar-;,
emily been passed though possibly,
only for the present.
Sir Arthur, by the way, is very much!
in the British public eye Just now,s
King George has bestowed upon him a.,
knighthood OF the Order OF the Carter
His achievements at the Washington.
arms conference are universally ssac..s
claimed rs regaining for. Great, Britain,
tho Vnrlf1 = = ~, lrc< TI,, - - ~. ~ ~.