NEWS AND NOTES 



121 



of the land was urged and the leasing of 

 lands valuable for coal and other mineral 

 fuels, under equitable conditions, was rec- 

 ommended. The principles which should 

 govern the development of our waterways 

 for navigation, power, and other uses were 

 laid down, and the broad plan of the Inland 

 Waterways Commission, which first called 

 public opinion to the necessity of limita- ■ 

 tion in time and proper compensation to the 

 public in grants for water-power, was in- 

 dorsed. In a word, the report of the com- 

 mission and the message together set forth r. 

 comprehensive, definite scheme for the con- 

 servation of our natural resources and in- 

 cluded the essential details of all the best 

 that has been proposed since they appeared. 

 We were ready to move forward. 



"At this critical period, when the goal was 

 in sight, enemies of conservation in Con- 

 gress not only succeeded in preventing an 

 appropriation with which to pursue the work, 

 but attempted to forbid its progress by the 

 Tawney amendment to the last sundry civil 

 bill. Thereupon the work of the National 

 Conservation Commission was stopped. The 

 recommendations of the commission still 

 wait for action. All wise men will agree 

 that the situation is serious. The Tawney 

 amendment was more than a mistake — it was 

 a deliberate betrayal of the future. The 

 dangers which confront the conservation 

 movement to-day must be met by positive 

 action by Congress. No action will be equiv- 

 alent to bad action and will have the same 

 results. Unless Congress acts the water- 

 powers will pass into the hands of special 

 interests without charge and without limit 

 of time. So with the phosphate deposits on 

 public lands when the withdrawals which 

 now protect them are removed. So with 

 the enormously valuable coal deposits in 

 Alaska, which the present law would sell for 

 $10 per acre. 



"The danger of bad legislation is no less 

 serious. The special interests must no longer 

 be allowed to take what they choose out 

 of the great property of all the people. Those 

 who steal public lands steal homes from 

 men and women who need them. Congress 

 can stop the pillage or Congress can let it 

 go on. In the absence of proper action, two 

 great conservation plans for the public wel- 

 fare may fail. The first is the control of 

 water-powers on navigable streams in the 

 public interest. The second is the construc- 

 tion of the deep waterway from the Great 

 Lakes to the Gulf. The unanimous opinion 

 of the Mississippi Valley recognizes this 

 waterway as a commercial necessity. It be- 

 lieves with reason that the cost which is al- 

 ready officially known will be trivial when 

 compared with the benefits conferred. 

 Transportation facilities create traffic. The 

 failure to develop our waterways, together 

 with adequate terminals and connections by 

 rail, leaves to the railroads a complete 

 monopolv of transportation in the Missis- 

 sippi Valley. 



"The conservation of natural resources and 

 the conservation of popular government are 

 both at stake. The one needs conservation 

 no less than the other. It is the duty of 

 every man of good will to make known with- 

 out delay to his representatives in the House 

 and Senate his firm intention to hold them 

 responsible for safeguarding the rights and 

 property of the people. The remedy lies 

 there. The first great, immediate danger is 

 that the water-powers will be lost; the 

 second, that the coal lands will be lost. But 

 these specific dangers of public loss are 

 merely parts of the great issue between 

 the special interests and the rest of us. That 

 issue is whether this country shall be man- 

 aged by men for human welfare or by money 

 for profit. It is a tremendous moral issue, 

 far greater than any man's personal feelings 

 or personal fortunes. It lies between the 

 people and their representatives on one side 

 and the interests and their representatives 

 on the other; between progress and reac- 

 tion ; between special privilege and a square 

 deal. I repeat that the supreme test is the 

 welfare of the plain people. It is time to 

 apply it." 



^ Hi )ii 



Where Docs He Stand? 



The labored explanations by which the 

 President attempts to justify himself in his 

 letter to Mr. Gififord Pinchot dismissing 

 him from the Forestry Service are not likely 

 to affect materially the public judgment. Mr. 

 Pinchot may have been indiscreet in allowing 

 it to be seen so clearly where he stands in 

 the controversy over the attitude of Sec- 

 retary Ballinger toward the policy of con- 

 servation ; he may even have been tech- 

 nically "insubordinate" in writing a letter 

 to Senator Dolliver. But the general realiza- 

 tion of the immense value of his service to 

 the country will suffice to brush away all 

 these finespun cobwebs. The verdict will be 

 that the President has cast his lot with the 

 enemies of conservation, and no amount of 

 argument will bring conviction to the con- 

 trary. — Providence Journal. 



«? J^ )^ 



The Beginning of a Fight 



If there is in the United States a public 

 land or timber grabber or a plunderer of 

 water power sites who is not wearing a 

 broad smile of satisfaction today it is be- 

 cause he has not learned the news from 

 Washington. President Taft's summary 

 dismissal of Gififord Pinchot is the greatest 

 thing that happened to these gentry since 

 they began operations on the public domain, 

 and it is safe to say that every one of them 

 threw his hat in the air and hip-hurrahed 

 when he heard of it. There are all sorts of 

 officials in the Government service, but Pin 

 chot was of the sort that can not be bribed, 

 bullied or cajoled from a course of honor 

 and honesty. So long as he stayed on thf 



