The Minnesota fiery cross. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1924-19??, 1924-03-28

governor overleoks. He overlooks al
so the thousands of fires successful
ly fought and extinguished. The rec
ords show that we have been getting
a greater measure of active and eff
fective cooperation from settlers,
railroads and lumber companies than
has any other state.
IF Governor Preus was as deeply
concerned in forest fire prevention
as he would have us believe, / won
der why it was that he withheld the
board of relief money which we had
asked for and the legislature pro-
vided for emergency purposes?
Timber Estimates Jokes
Statements made by the governor
and by Mr.. Gearheart and Mr.. Doug
las with reference to state timber
should not go unchallenged. 1t is
we'll known that the handling of
state timber and particularly the
sales policy has been such that for a
number of years as a member Of the
timber board, / have refused to sign
the estimate sheets or sale permits.
Mr.. Preus has refused to give me the
opportunity to have forest officers
check up in the field to see if the
timber was of such character as to
warrant sale. The timber estimates
in the auditors office are little more
than a joke, frequently showing less
than 20 per cent, sometimes 10 per
cent of the timber of different kinds
actually on the land. The deposits
made by the companies on their bids
are based on these estimates.
when such poor judgment was
shown as to the quantity of timber
on the tracts estimated, / have nat
urally questioned the judgment of
those responsible for determining the
quantity and the character of the
timber. Consequently from time to
time l have objected to the sale of
numerous tracts aggregating many
thousands of acres of timber, per-
haps half of which was reluctantly
held from sale. Later Investigations
probably more than half of what was
actually sold, was thrifty, growing
timber and should have been reserved
by the state for further growth.
ClOudfng the Issue
at is understood that Mr.. Diercks
of the auditors office, whom the gov
ernor recently made a member of
the forestry board, was interested in
getting through the legislature the
measure which permits three men,
bers of the timber board to transact
business and thus ignore the forest
er in timber matters.
at would appear that all these ex-
plantations by the governor and all
the unfair criticism he and his
friends are leveling at me must be
for the unfair purpose of clouding
the real issues, which are: Shall we
or shall we not let partisan policies
run forestry? And as to the person
mel of the forestry board, shall we
permit any man associated with Wis
consin pulp wood interests to be in
position to influence Minnesota's
policy in the management of its tim
Der lands?"
Following, in part, is an editorial
which appears in the current issue of
American Forests and Forest Life pub
lished by the American Forestry as
ISOLATION, of which Henry S. Graves
of Yale University is president, and
which includes among it's members
the most noted conservationists and
some of the most prominent business
men of the United States.
Blot on State
1.-THE methods by which Mr.. Cox
was ousted are blot upon the state
of Minnesota; they are a travesty
upon the name of representative
government. Mr.. Cox, as guardian
of the states natural resources, re-
fused to play politics. The politi-
clans, therefore, set out to override
public sentiment and to get rid of
him. 1t was long fight, but the pol
iticians won.
"By the dismissal of Mr.. Cox, Min
nesota has lost an able and upright
forester-a man who has had the
courage to oppose large interests
special privileges from the states
natural resources. He refused to
mix conservation and politics. The
state is indebted to him for a forest
department that ranks high among
the state.
"If in his place the Preus board of
forestry appoints politician, Min
nesota will indeed have been thrown
back into the dark ages of cOnser-