Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-30

Il
bipartisan investigation what the
facts are about the Haytian situation
| whether the Marines are butchers, as
one side alleges, or torch bearers OF
| civilization, as their champions con-
tend, and how the situation is to be
cleaned up with view to restoring
self-government in Hayti.
Regards Facts as Raw Material.
Giving information to Congress" has
usually meant stating the administra-
tons point Of view or policy to Con-
| gress; the information has consisted of
facts digested into argumentative form
President Hoover regards "informa ton -
as raw material; objective truth; facts
divorced from emotion, rhetoric or per-
Sonal Interpretation. 1t is true that
some of the Hoover commissions are
charged with the duty of drawing con-
illusions from their facts and making
| recommendations; other Hoover COM
missions are asked to ind the facts and
let 1t go at that.
Hoover commissions are not all cut
from one pattern. In one case the
President seeks facts as an immediate
basis Tor legislation. In another case
ne seeks the facts with view to more
| remote consequences. The child well
rare survey is expected to produce re-
suits, both in the near and distant
future, ranging from legislation by Con-
greSS. State Legislatures and local au-
thorities to gradual Self-reform by GER
tam industries and a steady raising of
standards for years to come In one
! case the facts sought may be few and
simple, In another vast and Voluminous
The Commission on Social Trends. for
example, with IS great social problems
to study, will work for three years and
make its report in several feet of fat
volumes. Some of the Presidents infor-
matlon-getting campaigns are supported
by Congress, others by great private or
CARNATIONS like the Rockefeller Fo,In-
datlon. The President holds himself
Tree TO commander specially trained
brains for Government service the SUBJ
lect OF pay not being mentioned, even
the expenses being left to the victim
to defray.
Attract Increasing Attention.
The development of the Hoover COM
missions is being watched with keenest
interest by the politicians of both
parties. Comment is as yet mainly in
the Wlse-cracking stage. The Hoover
commissions have been coming in grad
ually, the subject is not generally un-
oerstood and the criticism has been
self-contradictory Senator Pat Harri-
son OF Mississippi, for instance. accuses
the PRESIDENT OF using commissions as a
means OF shifting responsibility. Rep
resentative William B. Bankhead of
Alabama accuses the President of using
commissions as means of usurpinS
authority. -e
Unless something checks the present
tendency of the administration Presie
dent HOover,s commissions. conferences
surveys, studies and researches are
gong to become the most conspicuous
development OF his regime. The Hoover
commissions may not become n para
mount political issue, but they will be
spectacular one. TentacleS of the
commission octopus will be seen swarm
ing out from the White House to the
Capitol, the liberties of the people will
De IN danger, the Constitution will be
on us oeathbed, our republican insti-
tutlons Will be seen falling before an
ongarchy OF scientists, professors. spe-
cialists and technologists. Commissions
IN themselves are nothing new or revo-
Iutlonary. They have been created by
al administrations since the Civil War.
Ihey are familiar in State government
A conspicuously successful administrator
VINO leaned heavily on commissions was
former Gov. Alfred e. Smith. In the
case OF the Hoover administration the
difference Is one of degree.
The Conservation Commission.
The recently appointed Commission
ON Conservation and Administration of
the Public Domain is choice specimen
OF the Hoover commission. 1t was
called into being to deal with q vast
eVn which has been steadily progress
ing for Is years. an evil which has de-
ned remedy, because Of violent differ
ences OF opinion as to the facts.
The evil Is that of overerazing on
the public lands, which is causing an
enormous destruction of natural re-
sources in IL Rocky Mountain and
PACING Coast States. With the grass
eaten bare as fast as it grows, the soil
loses its ability to absorb and hold back
water. The rain runs on in freshets
and the snow melts in Spring flood.
The ground trampled and loosed by
cattle and sheep. especially when the
soil Is moist from Spring or Fall rains,
has been washed OF until millions of
acres OF former grass land is now bar
rem. 1t has been asserted that, under
proper regulation, the public grazing
lands would sustain three times the
cattle and sheep now grazing on them.
There is at present no law by which
grazing can be controlled The subject
was described as followed by Represent
alive French:
There are great areas Of public do
main over which I have travelled and
with which am familiar in our West
ern States, great areas, that not so many
years ago were blessed with splendid
green cover, which today. on account
OF erosion. look like the 'abomination Of
desolation, spoken Of by Daniel the
prophet
Irrigation Projects Suffer.
The stockmerI are not the only losers
by this policy of destruction. The vast
amount of soil carried away chokes the
rivers and reservoirs. The Zuni Reser-
voir in New Mexico, built az years ago,
Is filled up by mud so that it has lost
95 per cent of It's capacity, and other
great irrigation projects have suffered,
though to q lesser extent. The Missis-
Sippt flood was partly due to the rapid
run-of of water from soil which for
merly. because of its vegetation, stored
| it and released it slowly; 1t was also
| partly due to billions OF tons of silt
secured on the Overgrazed public lands.
Years ago 1t was recognized that the
balance established by nature had been
upset by overgrazing: that rivers were
running wild IN the loWlands because
Of destruction Of vegetation In the high
lands: and that farmers thousands OF
miles away were having difficulties about
their water supply because Of the meth
DDS pursued by stockmen grazing sheep
and cattle near the headwaters.
| Members Of Congress from the dis
tricts most Immediately affected have
sought. session after session, for legisla-
ton to control grazing. They failed
| however, to catch the attention OF Con-
gress or Of the Nation. These Congress-
men failed because they were few in
| number and in disagreement among
| themselves. The subject was compli-