Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-01-19

w partn1ents of the government seems
to have arisen over the proposition-embod-
led in several bills and also considered as
part Of the department reorganization
scheme-to take the national forests out OF
the jurisdiction of the Department OF Agr1-
culture and place them under that of the De-
partment of the Interior.
Ostensibly, Of course there is no struggle
between the two departments. no difference
Of opinion or desire between the two cabinet
officers at their heads, no rift in the admin
istration lutte. None of these things ever ap-
pears on the surface. Nor do the ostensible
reasons for the proposed transfer suggest
any issue worth struggling 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 Roosevelt Pinchot pol
icy of careful conservation in favor Of one
which will allow much freer use Of the
timber, grazing and other natural resources
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 conservationists prefer. You
can take your choice.
That change of policy in the admins
tration of the forests is the thing aimed at
Is evidenced in various ways. For one thing,
it Is known that the proposition to make the
forest service a part of the Interior Depart
ment originated with Secretary OF the In
terror Fall, and Mr.. Fall has repeatedly
freer use of natural resources and as OPP
posed to the conservation policy which has
been followed in this country since Roose-
velts administration, and which is regarded
by many persons both here and in Europe
as the most successful Of American admin
istrative achievements.
The Pioneer Policy
Secretary Falls attitude is the most in
teresting factor in the situation. Some of
his enemies have described him as the agent
of certain western capitalistic interests
which desire to exploit the forest resources,
and therefore as not sincere in his proposed
policy. But there is evidence that he is
perfectly sincere.
Mr.. Fall is an American Of the vanishing
pioneer type, which will be forever extinct
in this country in another generation. He
went to New Mexico as young man when
the southwest was a truly wild country. AS
everyone knows, to the pioneer of that era
the natural resources of the country SEEM
ed inexhaustible. 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 thing to be
studied and cared for. She was grim enemy
for strong men TO fight. Game was to be
killed, forests to be felled, land to be plough
ed. The pioneer developed toward the nat
ura1 resources of the earth an aggressive, en-
battled attitude. He rejoiced in every dent
that mans energy made on the wilderness
conquered.
The typical pioneer has never got over
this attitude, just as he has never got over
his hatred of the Indians. And secretary
Fall seems to be the typical pioneer. His
expressions nearly always have the ring or
sincerity, and they express that pioneer at
titude toward nature in all it's simplicity.
"Man cannot exhaust the resources OF
Nature and never WILL" he proclaimed in an
interview published in the Colorado Springs
Gazette September 20, 1921. And this
promise he followed with several logical con-
illusions from it.
"All natural resources should be made as
| easy of access as possible to the present gen
eration,'' was another 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 have
| seized upon such expressions as these and
made a Roman holiday. 1t scarcely seems
necessary to set forth their rebuttal, which
| the intelligent American newspaper reader
will easily imagine. With regard to the
secretary's great major promise that natu-
raj resources are inexhaustible, the conserva-
tionists have pointed out that this, as a mat
ter of fact, applies only to air and water, and
they go on to give the long list Of natural
resources that have been exhausted or i'm
paired in this country. If the secretary is
right in saying that natural resources should
be made easily accessible as possible, then
they urge, the whole science of conservation,
| mistake. This science which has enabled