EDITORIAL 



117 



clause, which is given in the President's 

 own words, expresses what he is un- 

 derstood to regard as the subject of 

 first importance for legislation. There 

 are those who believe that the execu- 

 tive power is sufficient under existing 

 laws to accomplish the desired results 

 in this direction, but the President and 

 his legal advisers, as the public has 

 good reason to know, have doubts upon 

 this point and believe that an unques- 

 tioned warrant for necessary action to 

 protect the public rights should be 

 given by legislative enactment. 



We do not propose to discuss the 

 message in detail at this time. It de- 

 serves that careful and thorough study 

 which was doubtless given to its prep- 

 aration. If in some respects it is dis- 

 appointing, it is encouraging in the 

 fact that the President has believed that 

 this great and many-sided issue called 

 for such extended treatment in his rec- 

 ommendations to Congress. Recogni- 

 tion of the fundamental importance of 

 these questions to the American people 

 shows the President to be in sympathy 

 with the profound convictions of those 

 \vho hold the most intelligent and un- 

 selfish views upon the needs of the 

 country. 



Now, let Congress translate this con- 

 viction into action and make the Presi- 

 dent's recognition of great principles 

 effective as far as may be through 

 legislation. 



To one item in the message we wish 

 to direct especial attention. Specific 

 recommendations are sometimes lost 

 sight of in these ponderous official docu- 

 ments. In treating the subject of for- 

 ests the President says : "The part 

 played by the forests in the equaliza- 

 tion of the supply of water on water- 

 sheds is a matter of discussion and dis- 

 pute, but the general benefit to be de- 

 rived by the public from the extension 

 of forest lands on water-sheds and the 

 promotion of the growth of trees in 

 places that are now denuded and that 

 once had great, flourishing forests 

 goes without saying." The President 

 thus accepts the sounder view of the 

 best forest and engineering science, as 

 against the hasty and unsurpported 



statements recently attributed to a sub- 

 ordinate government official. 



Mr. Taft declares that control over 

 private owners in the treatment of their 

 forests is a matter for state rather than 

 national regulation, "because there is 

 nothing in the Constitution that author - 

 izes the Federal Government to exer- 

 cise any control over forests within a 

 state, unless the forests are owned in 

 a proprietary zuay by the Federal Gov- 

 ernment. The italics are our own. 

 Without caviling over the slight inac- 

 curacy of phrasing, since the Federal 

 Government can own nothing, but can 

 only acquire and manage as the agent 

 of the Nation, we observe that this 

 clause affords an excellent introduc- 

 tion and foundation for the ensuing 

 paragraph, which we quote: 



It has been proposed, and a bill for the 

 purpose passed the lower house in the last 

 Congress, that the National Government ap- 

 propriate a certain amount each year out 

 of the receipts from the forestry business 

 of the Government to institute reforesta- 

 tion at the sources of certain navigable 

 streams to be selected by the Geological 

 Survey with a view to determining the 

 practicability of thus improving and pro- 

 tecting the streams for Federal purposes. 

 I think a moderate expenditure for each 

 year for this purpose, for a period of five 

 or ten years, would be of the utmost benefit 

 in the development of our forestry system. 



Advocates of the Weeks bill for the 

 creation of National Forests, with es- 

 pecial reference to the two great Ap- 

 palachian water-sheds --the northern 

 and southern-- rejoice at this distinct 

 endorsement of the measure which they 

 believe, in view of the facts which 

 have been persistently and thoroughly 

 put in evidence during several years of 

 agitation, to be one of the most imme- 

 diately pressing conservation measures 

 before the country. It is to be noted 

 that in its present form the bill obviates 

 the objection brought against it orig- 

 inally, that it took the income of the 

 western National Forests to buy forests 

 in the East, and makes the appropria- 

 tion a direct one. The President evi- 

 dently had the original form of the 

 bill in mind. 



It may be in order to suggest to reg- 

 ulars and insurgents alike that opposi- 



