The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-01-20

| ring of sincerity, and thew avn.
that pioneer attitude toward 49, -
in all its simplicity. ''ais
Man cannot exhaust the
sources of nature and never v,i n :
he proclaimed in an interview ~, ~,
lished in the Colorado So w
Gazette, Sept. %. 1921. Ana ~
premise he followed with ssvs -,
logical conclusions from it '~
"All natural resources sbo,t..
made as easy of access as possit,
to the present generation" Wa 1' -
other OF his expressions. and :.
also announced that There =
enough timber rotting every v.ss
to supply the normal demand -
Can Resources Be Exhausfedl
Now the friends OF the RnSsar.,.
policy of conservation in all na 49,
of the country have seized nm :
such expressions as these and M.
a Roman holiday. It scarcely SEEM
necessary to set forth their rebrt
tai, which the intelligent AmeTirs,
newspaper reader will easily i.
agine. With regard to the seer.
tary's great major premise fbs,
natural resources are inexhaustibI.
the conservationists have DoiD,0S
out that this, as a matter OF a.,
applies only to air and water ~
they go on to give the long lisf !,
natural resources that have besr
exhausted or impaired in this conn
try. If the secretary is right /,
saying that natural resource,
should be made as easily aecessiBe
as possible. then, they urge. tss
whole science of conservation a.
practiced all over the ciyiIizs5
world, is a mistake. This seieprs
which has enabled the French ANA
Germans to perpetuate their forests
and game down through the rem.
turtles, the lack of which has lsf,
so much of China a barren waste
torn by floods, is really all unptc.
essary. In fact, the secretary seems
to have taken. in his Colorado
Springs interview, a high and lone.
ly position where the conservation.
list snipers can crack away at him
from several different directions
and they have not neglected The
This. then, is the real issue Be.
hind the transfer project. The only
ostensible reason brought forward
for it is that the interior depart.
ment is the official real estate Of
fee of the nation and should have
charge of all land deals to prevent
The forest service has
certain grazing rights to lease and
a limited and diminishing numbe
of homesteads to give away along
streams. The interior department.
it is claimed, should exercise these
functions. But it also wants the
forests themselves. This. the con.
servationists say. is a case Of de-
the hide because you de-
serve the tail and the two cannot
be separated. But this whole con-
tention is a minor one, a smske
screen to hide the real issue.
At first it looked as though The
transfer might be rushed througha
A part of general reorganization
without much attention be-
ing focused on it. But it has been
in several other measures
and so brought out into the open
where its enemies have a better
chance to attack it and its friends
to defend it.
The Alaska forests are a special
phase of the question. which will
be taken up in a future Haskin let
ter. The main fact, which this ar
.icle aims to set forth impartially
is that the transfer is intended 70
be, and will be to some extent L
It takes place, a change Of policy
.oward the national forests IRON
hat of scientific conservation in
he Roosevelt tradition in the d.
-ection of free use" in the pioneer
sense. The fact that Secretary
Fall would have charge Of the for
ests, in view OF his expressed pol
cy with regard to all natural re-
sources, seems sufficient proof Of
his.