USE OF A NATIONAL FOREST 

 Cattle Grazing in Shcpard Canyon, Gila (S) N. F, 



It is almost certain, judging the fu- 

 ture by the past, that the states cannot, 

 and indivickials and corporations will 

 not, adopt a uniform plan for the con- 

 servation of our natural resources, a 

 plan that will work the greatest good to 

 the greatest number. The states can- 

 not be expected to do the essential part 

 of this work ; it involves absolutely uni- 

 form national activity. 



To those of my readers who may 

 question the necessity for such an elab- 

 orate scheme as my plan involves, for 

 the conservation of our national re- 

 sources, I would say, there are many 

 people in this country of ours to whom 

 the question of States' rights is a 

 bugaboo ; who fear that the centraliza- 

 tion of power in the hands of the Fed- 

 eral Government will tend to undermine 

 our system of government. Whilst, 

 personally, I have no fear that our gov- 

 ernment will ever decay or be disrupted 

 by any system of control we are likely 

 to adopt for its operation, yet, there are 

 424 



untold thousands who affect to believe 

 that the placing of additional power in 

 the hands of our Federal Government 

 will tend to its destruction ; so, my 

 plan, whilst advocating a national 

 agency, does not involve an absolute 

 surrender by the states of their rights 

 to Federal control ; it simply provides 

 a scheme for national cooperation — na- 

 tional partnership, if you will. 



A feature that should be borne in 

 mind in behalf of my plan is its abso- 

 lute non-partisan control ; under this 

 plan, the entire matter is taken out of 

 and lifted above mere politics, and we 

 may expect a business administration 

 of our resources such as we positively 

 could not get in any other way. 



The country's need is great and 

 pressing: the remedy, therefore, must 

 be adequate even if radical and ad- 

 vanced. To sum it all up, do the Ameri- 

 can people believe in actual union of the 

 states for the benefit of all, or is union 

 merely a platitude? 



