NEWS AND NOTES 



581 



A National Issue Shaping 



Unless President Taft takes decided action 

 in the matter of the conservation of the 

 public lands and their water-power, the issue 

 now looming up in the Pinchot-Ballinger 

 controversy will be taken up in Congress 

 and will be enlarged into a great national 

 issue. * * * 



Formerly the people did not care, because 

 they did not know. Our natural resources 

 were so great that they seemed inexhaust- 

 ible, and the people were told that private 

 enterprise was necessary for their develop- 

 ment. Enormous areas of the public domain 

 were granted to railroads on that theory, and 

 while grants were necessary and just, many 

 millions of acres represented pure graft. 

 The hunt for the Government's natural as- 

 sets goes on ; great conspiracies are formed 

 and audacious acts are committed under the 

 forms of law. The people look to the Presi- 

 dent to see that his administration does not 

 aid or countenance this plunder of the Na- 

 tion, and if his policy does not satisfy the 

 popular sentiment a pressure will be brought 

 upon Congress to compel adequate legislation 

 or start a great national movement inde- 

 pendent of party ties and questions. — Newark 

 (N. J.) Advertiser, Augvist 18, 1909. 



^ ^ ^ 



The Lawyer and the Man of Science 



The controversy between Gififord Pinchot 

 and the administration presents a phase of 

 the immemorial conflict between formal law 

 and the facts of experience. 



Pinchot, as a man of science habituated to 

 an out-of-doors view of things, is bent upon 

 the facts. 



He sees the growth, under his eyes, of 

 that gigantic water-power monopoly in the 

 West which Mr. Roosevelt foresaw might 

 come to overshadow the very Government 

 itself. 



Pinchot is determined to deal with this 

 monopoly by any means that will keep the 

 water-power in the possession of the people. 



He is determined that the issue of the 

 struggle between the Government and the 

 privileged combination shall leave the Gov- 

 ernment on top. 



Now the case looks altogether different 

 to the higher powers of the administration. 



The President and the Secretary of th? 

 Interior are in their mental make-up indoors 

 men. They take the point of view tradi- 

 tionary with- lawyers. 



The practical facts of the economy of 

 water-power have only a secondary interest 

 to them. Their duty as they understand it ' 

 is to administer a formal code of laws. 



If a conscientious discharge of this obli- 

 gation will keep the neck of the public clear 

 of the heel of the Water-power Trust, that 

 is well and good. If not — well, Mr. Taft 

 and Mr. Ballinger will hold themselves 

 blameless. 



Now. which of these two mental atti- 

 tudes, Mr. American Citizen, is more likelv 



to save the Government of the United States 

 from becoming the mere hahboy and type- 

 writer of the Amalgamated Monopolies? 



Which is the more competent at last for 

 the vindication of law? 



The administration seems to have scruples 

 about its legal right to keep certain water- 

 power sites exempt from private entry. But 

 there is such a thing as being so nicely legal 

 that the law gets trampled under foot. 



Last week the Irrigation Congress, in ses- 

 sion at Spokane, was thrown into a state of 

 excitement at the reputed disclosures of 

 facts showing that the Secretary of the 

 Interior had shattered the Roosevelt con- 

 servation policy in Montana. 



It was said that Mr. Ballinger had allowed 

 millions of dollars of power-site lands to fall 

 into the hands of the Water-power Trust. 



The story is sensational, and should stir 

 the country as it has stirred the Irrigation 

 Congress. 



It presents a great primary issue that must 

 be met. 



Shall the Government be a little rough- 

 handed — in the Roosevelt fashion — when nec- 

 essary to maintain its sovereignty over pri- 

 vate powers, or shall it lay down its life for 

 its enemies on the altar of legal scrupulosity? 



Nobody can believe that Mr. Taft and 

 Mr. Ballinger could possibly do what they 

 seem to have done in this water-power mat- 

 ter from any but the most conscientious 

 motives. 



But the question arises. Are not their mo- 

 tives too high, too fine for any earthly use?— 

 Boston (Mass.) American, August 19, 1909. 



^ ^ )^ 



Director Newell and His Enemies 



A public official who brings to an impor- 

 tant task a zealous desire to advance the pub- 

 lic welfare and courage to oppose selfish in- 

 fluences must expect to have his. motives as- 

 sailed and his achievements criticized. 



Director Newell, of the Reclamation Serv- 

 ice, is no exception to this deplorable rule. 

 Persistent efiforts have been made to dis- 

 credit him with his superiors, to work up 

 narrow local hostility in those communities 

 that did not immediately receive portions 

 of the reclamation fund, and to prejudice 

 public sentiment generally against him. 

 These attacks are directed chiefly by large 

 and powerful interests that have failed in 

 their efforts to manipulate Mr. Newell and 

 persuade him to sacrifice the public welfare 

 wherever it came in conflict with their de- 

 sires. 



Disinterested and well-informed govern- 

 ment officials who have observed Mr. New- 

 ell's public work over a long range of years 

 speak enthusiasticallv of his honesty, unflag- 

 ging zeal in the public service and marked 

 ability. Director Newell has had charge of 

 this great reclamation work from the begin- 

 ning,' and under his eye and hand it has been 

 made a gratifying success. Not a single 

 undertaking has failed, vast desert areas 

 have been reclaimed and passed over to 



