568 



CONSERVATION 



The resources, nevertheless, of the 

 Capitol, the Departments", where avail- 

 able, and the press, including a clipping 

 bureau, have been exploited. Following 

 is the story: 



In recent years there has been form- 

 ing a water-power trust. When com- 

 plete, it will dominate the power market, 

 and with it all industry. Beside it. 

 Standard Oil will be petty. 



The seat of power for the trust is 

 water-power sites. In Forestry and 

 Irrigation for April, 1908, the present 

 writer editorially exposed numerous at- 

 tempts on the part of the power inter- 

 ests to secure Congressional legislation. 



In the closing days of his adminis- 

 tration. President Roosevelt learned of 

 wholesale seizures of water-powers by 

 the trust. 



It had been supposed that Secretary 

 Garfield would continue in charge of the 

 Interior Department; on February 15 

 he learned that he must go on March 4. 



"Not knowing who the new secretary 

 would be, President Roosevelt and Sec- 

 retary Garfield decided to lock all doors 

 so that the new administration would 

 find everything snug." 



At midnight, preceding March 4, 

 President Roosevelt withdrew from en- 

 try, and hence from the reach of the 

 land grabbers, 186,000,000 acres of 

 land containing power sites. Three- 

 quarters of this was in Montana, the 

 remainder in Wyoming. 



Secretary Garfield was followed by 

 Richard Achilles Ballinger, of Seattle. 

 Following the Binger Hermann-Mitchell 

 scandals, Ballinger had come to the 

 Land Office, where, for a year, begin- 

 ning February, 1907, he was Commis- 

 sioner. Friction, however, existed and 

 he resigned. 



Hardly had Secretary Ballinger as- 

 sumed office before he began throwing 

 open to entry lands which his predeces- 

 sor had withdrawn for the protection 

 of the public's interests. 



How much? Application to the De- 

 partment of the Interior for figures has 

 brought no response. A table published 

 on May 8 shows land totaling 5,012,- 

 729 acres to have been thus released in 

 twenty-one states and territories. 



Press reports at hand indicate the 



throwing open to entry of more than a 

 half-million additional acres in July. 



The reason given by Secretary Bal- 

 linger for these acts was the lack of 

 specific law for the withdrawal of the 

 land originally. 



Presently the country began to be 

 heard from. Not only so, but Mr. Gif- 

 ford Pinchot, Forester, went direct to 

 President Taft and voiced an indignant 

 protest. 



President Taft promptly instructed 

 the re-withdrawal of the lands in ques- 

 tion. But a fraction, however, of the 

 lands thrown open were re-withdrawn. 



Furthermore, it is charged, lands in 

 Montana, ordered to be withdrawn, 

 were not withdrawn for nearly two 

 months ; during which time representa- 

 tives of the power trust grabbed im- 

 mensely valuable water-power sites. 



The protest of Mr. Pinchot, however, 

 bore fruit of still a different character. 

 A bit of side history must here be in- 

 troduced. 



The Indian reservations are in con- 

 trol of the Indian Office of the Interior 

 Department. On the Indian reserva- 

 tions are valuable forests. The Indian 

 Office, however, does not maintain a 

 scientific, technical forest force. It is 

 and has been, therefore, incompetent 

 to handle forests. 



Realizing this, the Secretaries of 

 Agriculture and the Interior on January 

 22, 1908, agreed upon a plan of co- 

 operation between their departments. 

 Under this plan, the Indian forests were 

 administered by the Forest Service of 

 the Agricultural Department, the In- 

 dian Office paying the bills. 



Mr. Pinchot's letter of July 2t^ last, 

 to Secretary Wilson, shows that this 

 plan bore admirable fruit, a fact which 

 the Interior Office concedes. 



When Mr. Ballinger became Secre- 

 tary, the question of continuing this co- 

 operation was repeatedly discussed with 

 him. He agreed that the cooperation 

 should continue. 



However, when ordered by the Presi- 

 dent to re-withdraw the lands as above 

 mentioned, he changed his mind on this 

 point. 



Press dispatches from the West quo- 



