MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS 



PINCHOT-BALLINGER. hearing, while an obscure, selfish person, ac- Alaska, etc. In 1891 the forest reserve law 



When Mr. Pinchot was dismissed by Presi- '^d of violating his oath of office in lending was passed, as a rider on the sundry civil bill. 



a hand in a most monstrous effort at public I* W3 t S th ! first . success . wh j ch the American 



ent Taft, the Forestry Club of the University ' Forestry Association gained and it was the 



Michigan asked Professor Roth 1 u '" , a " d ' S white ~ first at tempt to stay the unwise, wasteful dis- 



explam washed on the very eve of tria , And Qur posal of Qur natural wea i th . Out of this effort 



is situation. The following is what he said: Michigan senator, Burrows, is reported as m forestry came the conservation movement 



The dispute which has led, finally, to a con- wonderfully pleased with this great stroke of f , tO . da - ^ was an awakening of the people 



and it has become a conscious effort just in 



ressional investigation, is part of a larger statesmanship. the first stageg of organization . And it was 



ontroversy, and to understand it the broader . At the outset it was claimed that our na- Pinchot more than anyone who brought this 



lestion. its causes and development must be t' 011 ^ 1 j and law , s are antiquated and bad. It matter before our people and who convinced 



nnsidered mignt be added that they are wrong in prin- Roc-sevelt and enlisted his tremendous energy 



ciple. Our land and mineral and water rights in this movement. 



d categorically stated the s.tuation laws are 'based on the "boomer" principle of But there was no thought of hurting honest 



Jttmg all resources into private hands as fast men or honest business. It was merely an 



1. Our national land and mineral laws are as possible, regardless of consequences. This effort at reasonable provision for the future. 



Hiquated and bad. S^U 'HH golden calf" of the West There was and is no attempt to lock up any- 



diKl it is still more religiously worshipped and thine- all that is asked for is tint the fnmta 



Their enforcement through the Umted guarded by all kinds of corporation^ whose l^ines "t waters" and 'he land shall be 



)ffice has been inadequate, and < nprmous gams depended entirely on this llse d reasonably and not merely wasted, and 



is has led to fraud, monopoly and loss. also that the people, the real owners of every- 



3. Roosevelt was the first president to op- T{ ,,1J "^, c lllu l tr ? ViJ-a Y the .notorious thing, shall truly share in this wealth and re- 



r 11 u- lltnoei and Stone Act of 1878, passed by Con- flin n savsn in trip mannpr nf its IISP 



uccessfully, this great mischief. He was gress contrary to the protests of Secretary V 



ipportcd in this by the people and opposed Schurtz. Under this act any man can take up th e efforts there was opposition at 



congress 160 acres of fine timber, really worth perhaps ce and that opposition never has ceased. 



$50 or $100 per acre and nav $" 50 for ii The men who have grown nch at the P e P le s 



Whj , e & [+"<&%& t^ P en are not satisfied with what they have, 



Mr. Ballinger, as land commissioner, was w " hi ^ the la* com els him tj^sw a I 



ot in sympathy with Roosevelt's efforts and vcry severe oaths thaf 8 he'^akes 5 ^^ lam^im they demand that they and not the people 



ithdrew after a single year's service as com- for his own use and not for sale etc he nor- ^ ha " dete rmine the policy and the law. In 



lissioner, in March, 1908 mally sells it to some corporation as soon as he Congress they refuse to act, and if pressed, 



irpts titlp Thp rp=iiit= . th c present the hardy pioneer or prospector ex- 



In March, 1909, President Taft removed fhj s i aw T he reat bod f h erl ' s of case. At the land office they do nothing 



oosevelt's secretary, Garfield, and put Bal- <], o not belong to the indfvkluals 6 w'ho received wn ' cn tne law does not compel them to do, 



nger in his cabinet, and with this increased them from the people; they belong to corpora- and everr ll Y s little is ordered but generally 



>\vi-r in land matters Ballinger at once (in tions who blocked them into large holdings n o executed 



inH arp o-pttincr rparK, fnr c t K O President Roosevelt and his men took their 



pnl, 1909) made wholesale restorations to -"iciaiege ; timber mono- duty more seriously and cared for the 



the Land Office, reported frauds in Alaska \ J? SZS^SZ* property just as far as the law did no 



r the good of the people. modifications were suggested; but every time' T, 



May 15, Pinchot protested against these such an effort struck the public lands com- ^lunger excused his acts by saying that 



ti-ns of Ballinger and thus the open dispute "<* <** h u f' the much overworked, J^f/J, ^^ ''"J^ t ^^Sl "l 



downtrodden, hardy pioneer settler was servec O J. tne t g c . , 01 ll ? e People, as 



promptly trotted out, and it was shown that long as the law did not forbid such reservation. 



7. Soon after this L. R. Glavis, an employe since his farm was on the prairie he must have These then, are some of the causes and part 

 the land office, reported frauds in Alaska a chance for timber, etc. The law stayed, and \ th , e . development of the great controversy 



it stavs tndav This law i u an a.K^rnJr.Qt.'^r, f which the present dispute is a part. 



al claims and accused Balhnger of having }. V ay oaay. inis law is an abomination, R , ', , t f ? -p rnrn *, ,.,.. 



' dishonesty is in its very conception, it has ll . wna f. * ./"? tnal - rom all appear 



iproper connection with these claims. cost the people mil i ions of do n ars every month ances it will drift into an effort to show that 



8. In September President Taft publicly and it is still on the books and in force The technically Ball ' n S e r was within the law.' 

 conerated Ballinger and ordered the dismis- question naturally forces itself on every one: Whether he was so morally and honestly is 

 il of Glavis Whv does Congress refuse to enact a better qu '' e a " th i r i , ma f, ter - , f ^ 



law? It was also claimed that the enforcement ^hat 1 wlll , be the result of the investigation 



The people and the press, not being satis- of such ]aw as we djd haye was defective an " d on Mr. Pinchot and on forestry? 



:d with this whitewash, Congress decided in that this led to fraud and loss [ ha s already made Mr. Pinchot stand out 



ecember to investigate these Alaska coal For many years past, the local land offices, more clearly than ever as the greatest leader 



, & , , like nostofficps have hppn nnlitiVal r,=tn ' or all that is good, real and lasting in gcvern- 



nd affairs and Ballinger s connection with "^ e P es > nave oeen political patronage , . . , ' , . , . , , f *= - 



of congressmen. And for years the land office 



employes, particularly the special agent ser- S od - 



;ons for this investigation were v ice, has been of the same character. The ill In forestry and conservation on the whole 



troduced in the senate and the house by repute of the land office and all that goes with ' { has fairly electrified the whole nation. In 



nator Jones and Representative Humphrey il is notorious in every public land State in ^l not three men in Congress cared a rap 



if Wnsliinfrtnr - thi= the Unlon - Th e results can be read out of about any progressive policy with regard to 



f Washington, and both took this the very reports of the General Land office the national wealth. Today the Congress 



nty to declare the innocence of Bal- itself. Thus is the timber claim business it stands divided, there is actual and earnest ef- 



iger, an act both injudicial and unfair. was not enough that the claimants perjured fort. But what is far more important, this 



11. January 0, President Taft made public themselves, but some enterprising companies sudden turn in the controversy has aroused 



f Attorney General Wickershim the simp'y hire d dummy claimants at so much per the people. Not a paper, not a magazine that 



' head, and finally some still more hustling per- d oes not take sides, ad the real leaders of 



judiciary department of our Re- sons s i mp i y invented names and signatures Public opinion almost to a man stand by Pin- 



iblic, in which again Mr. Ballinger is declared and thus saved even the dummy. Since these hot and for conservation. 



lit and Mr. Glavis is condemned. That are matters of court record and since even And here rests the final verdict. It will take 



an outrage on common sense and con- some very prominent men like Senator Mitch- several years for the people to say their word. 



. . ell of Oregon were convicted in matters of bu t this word will be spoken clearly and force- 



idiciary principles, that the ac- this kind> we are not dealing with iso i ated fully and without any mixture of "legal tech- 



>ed .-hould be proclaimed innocent before- cases and opinions but with common facts, nicality whitewash." 



.:nd the accuser thus practically be placed The illegal fencing of millions of acres of 



al himself, seems to require no comment. ra "ge lands by cattle companies and the inci- FIRE PROTECTION. 



The same day Mr Pinchot in a letter d . cl ^ al shootlll g of "f 1 settlers the wholesale The Province of Quebec, through its effi- 



' timber trespasses which have been going on cien t suoerintendent Hon W C T Hall has 



Senator Dolliver of Iowa stated his faith in f or years, all these illustrate that the enforce- ' , ' J '. ' ' 



and denied the correctness of the find- ment of even the poor laws we do have, was J ued ln attractive and convenient form 



is of Wickersham. largely a farce. And again we ask: Why did a clots-bound circular, well illustrated, giving 



13. Next day President Taft ordered the ordces Congress refuse to equip the land directions concerning forest fires, their pre- 



CMnissal of Mr Pinchot Mr Price and Mr t M ! 3 " *f ' sufficlent force to care vention and control. The little booklet starts 



en, ivir. i ivir. f or p U bhc property? , . _, , ., 



law. Mr. Pinchot, a man who has won the At 'his point Professor Roth read a number c 



1-art and confidence of Roosevelt and the of .passages from the Annual Report of the an absolute necessity to its inhabitants." An 



l-.plc by doing a giant's task without thought <: ne , ral La nd Offke, then under Ethan Allen interesting fact is apparent from this booklet, 



.,- , Hitchcock, telling of fraud, mefective protec- that is that a paid patrol under proper direc- 



pay or selfish gam, a man who is not even ^. on> unsat j s factory prosecution and trials, tion is indispensible to any effective fire ser- 



; Reused of any wrong, is dismissed without a illegal fencing, neglect of providing laws for vice. 



