630 



CONSERVATION 



to provide thoroughly adequate fire pa- 

 trol and fire protection for half a dozen 

 states the size of Minnesota. If our 

 American legislators in reality pos- 

 sessed the business instincts that they 

 are so fond of boasting about, it would 

 not be five years until every state hav- 

 ing any amount of timber lands would 

 provide for the safe-guarding against 

 fire of such timber lands. This is a 

 simple business proposition a propo- 

 sition to invest, say, forty or fifty thou- 

 sand dollars a year,' to guard against 

 losses that may run far into the millions. 

 How long will it be until American 

 business sense will recognize the busi- 

 ness necessity of taking hold of ques- 

 tions like this in a businesslike man- 

 ner, and take steps tu provide the same- 

 measure of protection for our increas- 

 ingly valuable timber lands that they 

 have already provided for towns and 

 cities? 



The Hydro-electric'power Interests 



A PHASE of the development of 

 the West, that has occupied rather 

 a prominent place in the attention of 

 the public during recent years, is that 

 of the exploitation and development of 

 water-powers for the generation of 

 electric power ; and friction between 

 the Government, as represented by the 

 Forest Service, and the electric power 

 concerns has been more or less fre- 

 quent. There are now pending sev- 

 eral cases of alleged fraudulent entries 

 covering valuable water-powers, and 

 one of the largest of the electric power 

 concerns is charged with being di- 

 rectly responsible for a large number 

 of these fraudulent claims. It is 

 charged that this company, which is 

 said to be an auxiliary of the largest 

 electric power and manufacturing con- 

 cern in the country, has secured pos- 

 session of water-powers by the expe- 

 dient of having stenographers in the 

 employ of the company make dummy 

 entries ; and the statement is also made 

 that in at least two or three instances 

 the consent of such dummy entrymen 

 has not even been secured, and they 

 have not known that their names were 



being used until they were notified of 

 the fact by Government officials. 



Now, the day for bald pilfering of 

 this sort has passed, and the big cor- 

 porations ought to have realized that 

 fact. No man and no corporation, no 

 matter how wealthy, great or powerful, 

 can, in this day of grace, filch from the 

 Nation any of its natural resources 

 without being made to pay the penalty. 

 Whether it be timber, or grass lands, 

 or water-powers, detection is sure to 

 come, and, following detection, punish- 

 ment swift and stern. The plea still 

 goes up that to take from such a "de- 

 veloping agent" the resources so pill- 

 aged means to retard the "development" 

 of the particular region affected. Well, 

 if that region can only be developed 

 through the agency of theft or grand 

 larceny, then it were better that the re- 

 gion remain undeveloped till the crack 

 of doom. 



Conservation of natural resources 

 means the saving from needless waste 

 and destruction of the natural riches 

 which we have, and the exploitation, 

 through proper use and proper develop- 

 ment, of all of our resources of land, 

 water, timber, ores, minerals, water- 

 powers, etc. It does not, however, 

 mean their exploitation by improper use 

 or improper development, or improper 

 means, and theft of any of these re- 

 sources is certainly improper. Like- 

 wise, it is expensive and unsafe, nowa- 

 days, no matter what it may have been 

 a dozen years ago. A business, no mat- 

 ter what it may be, and no matter who 

 may be the men in control of it, that 

 cannot exist without resorting to theft 

 to bald-faced pillaging, piracy and 

 robbery should not be permitted to 

 exist at all. And along this line we 

 reproduce in full an editorial article that 

 appeared in the issue of October 3 of 

 the Journal of Electricity, Power and 

 Gas. It is as fair and logical a present- 

 ment of the case as we recall having 

 seen in a long while. 



For some time the Journal has 

 been giving careful thought to the 

 hydro-electric companies, and to 

 the problems that grow out of their 



