, 1927-03-02
ELEVEN WESTERN STATES ARE. NOW
MEKE. IENAN PROVINCES THROUGH
DESTROYED CONSERVATION POI Irv
CENTRAL PROTEST. OVER FEDERAL USURPATYON OF RICH me
SMALL GROUP OF STATES TO OWNERSHIP OF NaTuRaJ,
REsoufscEs ECHOED IN SENATE MEMORIAL OF NATURAL
DUCED by ]. ". JENKINS
(By George R. Handl


the state Senate of the nineteenth
Wyoming Legislature by Hon. Perry
w. jenkins. of Subiette county and
president Of that body. tells with
historic accuracy and in prosaic
legislative language the story of the
plight in which Wyoming, and ten
of her sister states. find themselves
as a result Of congressional and
Bureaucratic Interpretation of the
mis-named policy of Conservation -
This policy. inaugurated over rs
years ago. was conceived in the best
OF intentions and in a spirit of gen
uine economy by men who had wit
messed the prodical and unbusiness
like methods by which lands, water
power. timber. mineral and other
natural had passed from
public ownership into greedy, and
INSCRIPTIONS hands, to be ruthless
ly exploited for private profit re-
gardless OF the rights interests OF
the general public or of p~osterity.
Having witnessed at first hand
the shameful abuse which had ac-
companied the use and development
OF natures generous gifts. embraced
under the general head of natural
resources" in some OF the older
states, a few patriotic and far-see-
ing statesmen. headed by the i'm
mortal Roosevelt, determined that
the great west. then beginning to
come into its own and being rapidly
settled by hardy pioneers, should
not be scourged by a similar orgy
OF graft. corruption waste. They
little foresaw or realized to what
an extent their well-laid plans for
the protection of the rights of the
people. not only of the west. but of
the whole country. and of genera
lions yet to come would be alienat-
ed, abridged and distorted by n
fungus growth which has fastened
itself. slowly but surely, upon the
federal government-a centralized
system of bureaucracy-which has
i~nsiduousiy assumed legislative, ex-
ecutive and judicial functions.
Thus it has come about, 90 grad
ually as to provoke no vehement Or
concerted protest until within a few
short years. that Wyoming, and ten
other western states, variously de-
scribed as "semi-arid," public
land" or "far western" finally
awakened to the distressing fact
that from so to rs per cen of the
entire area within their official
boundaries was owned by or under
the executive control Of the federal
government and administered to the
smallest detail by bureaus and de-
partments in Washington, d. G..
Thes states then began to take
stock of the situation and found
that public lands, rivers, water
power sites. oil and other minerals.
parks, Indian Reservations were
owned by an absentee landlord.
Uncle Sam" and might not be
privately acquired or develonA5 ex-
cept as a temporary t%erant and byI
paying tribute an some form or
other to tie "owner."
Tnesse states were all this time
growing in wealth and population
with a consequent and necessary in
crease in state expenditures. The
aftermath of the war dictated"
many industries almost out of ex-
istence until tax burdens became al
most intoIerabie. Expansion of ag-
riculture and stock raising was halt
ed at the boundaries of the federal
domain from which the public was
either excluded except on terms of
stenantry or denied more than mere
surface rights to the fruits of the
soil. Accompanying this disquieting
state of affairs was the bitter reali-
cation that all property paying.
taxes, which in Wyoming is consi-
derably less than one-half of the
total area OF the state. must neces-
sarily contribute literally and in
many ways to the upkeep OF Uncle
Sans far flung intra-state empire.
Roads and bridges must be built
and maintained; the state and ma
tional laws must be enforced oy
peace officers all put of taxes as
sessed against one-half of the state
while the other half not only con-
tributes little or nothing but drains
the substance of our citizens by a
system of grazing fees, royalties,
fines. permits payable, by the way
in cash, nearly all Of which it taken
out of the state.
When Mt last It dawned upon
some Of the more advanced students
OF public affairs among whom Sen.
p. w. Jenkins. author OF the mem
orial first referred to. easily ranks
among the very first, that these
western states were and are con-
fronted by an intoierable condition,
which had ceased to be a theory,
one which threatened the ultimate