Imperial Valley press., 1922-03-30

Secretary Wallace, not being much Of
talker, said nothing for publication.
But references were made to an old
story That Fall, while raising sheep iii
New Mexico, years ago, had a contro
versy with the Forest Service ovtrs
sheep grazing privileges on public
lands. FAN sat down and wrote hot
letter to a congressman. Then the For
.est=.RHreau wrate letter to another
congressman. The agricultural bloc
was rallied to the cause of the depart
lnqIt of agriculture, ~ - -
Then President Harding suggested
that the row had better be kept i'll the
family as much as possible and both
sides subsidized for the time being. But
a call at the offices of the Forest Serv-
ice any day will reveal signs of quiet
activity which foreshadow a finish
fight unless the soothing hand of Pres
idsDt Harding intervenes successfully.
Although it has many ramifications,
the controversy centcrs around control
Of the Alaskan forests. Fall s conten-
ton is that tic national forest reserves
controlled by the Forest Service should
be placed under the interior depart
ment which now has jurisdiction over
the remainder Of the public domain.
Under the present plan, he says, au-
thoritv is divided where it should be
concentrated More fundamental than
this is his charge that the Forest Serv-
ice is under the sway of the conserva-
ZIONIST policies introduced by Clifford
Pinchot which lie believes have locked
'ip tremendously valuable forests and
mineral deposits and prevented their
development. This policy, Secretary
Fall alleges, has caused general slump
in Alaska which has resulted III an ex-
olus of Americans from that country
I'D has stuiIted the development of
he greatest treasure chest of. the ma
lion Private capital will not go there,
now exercised by rthe Forestry Bureau
are continued.
The conservationists retort that Fall
would turn priceless timber lands, oil,
coal and precious Mineral deposits over
o exploitation by private interests and
| that the public would be robbed of
thousands of dollars by these interests.
The interior department already con-
trolls 95 peraeeHt of the Alaskan forests,
| only five per cent being reserved and
| under control of the Forest Service But
| this five per cent is at present the ker-
mel of the Alaskan nut because it COW
| ers most of the developed sections of
that vast wild country. The two big
gest reserves are located in the Juneau
md Seward regions and stretch over a
| thousand miles of the lower coast. This
| gives the Forest Bureau jurisdiction
over the choicest morsels in the entire
| Alaskan territory-and that is why
such q relatively small section of the
/ great treasure land can be such big
| thorn in the side of Secretary Fall.
| Fall contends that the government
must offer far more attractive induce
ments to private enterprise than the
Forest Service has been willing tc
grant.
| If proper inducements are held out
| Alaska can be made to draw thousands
IF eX-service men there, Fall believes
s. have been impressed with the con
viction that what Alaska needs for its
development is the brain and tho
strength of the virile young American
manhood, so conspicuously represented
by the veterans of the, World war; ht
said in a. recent ,letteraf.. ';..as- ~.
| "A rational policy which Will make
available the undevcloped resources OF
Alaska will enable them to CRAFTY
their desire to intermingle again will
other civilizations and permit them tt
follow the course pursued by thcil
fathers, who brought your state and
later the great Rocky mountain states
into the union.
| s. / am convinced that the great non.
metalliferous mineral wealth in the