EDITORIAL 



235 



is asserted. In the paragraph on wa- 

 terways we read : "The public author- 

 ity should retain the right to readjust 

 at stated periods the compensation to 

 the public and to regulate the rates 

 charged, to the end that undue profit 

 or extortion may be prevented." The 

 same idea appears in the paragraph on 

 minerals above quoted, where provi- 

 sions are recommended whereby the 

 public may be supplied at "reasonable 

 prices." 



Public participation in enterprises of 

 public interest is advocated. In dis- 

 cussing waters the commissioners say : 

 "We therefore favor the participation 

 of the public to secure the complete 

 and economical development and use of 

 all water available for irrigation and 

 of all lands susceptible of profitable 

 drainage, in order to ensure the widest 

 possible benefit." 



In sections of the mountain states, 

 the question of Government regulation 

 of grazing on public lands is a burning 

 issue. The commissioners, however, as 

 noted, unequivocally declare for it, "in 

 the interest of the homemaker." 



Public control of resources needful 

 for the public good is repeatedly ad- 

 vocated ; implicitly in the paragraph on 

 forests which reads : "We agree that 

 the ownership of forest lands, either at 

 the headwaters of streams or upon 

 areas better suited for forest growth 

 than for other purposes, entails duties 

 to the public, and that such lands should 

 be protected with equal effectiveness, 

 whether under public or private own- 

 ership." 



The recommendation is made ex- 

 plicitly in the following instances : "We 

 further express our belief that all wa- 

 terways so developed should be re- 

 tained under exclusive public owner- 

 ship and control ;" "In the matter of 

 irrigation public authority should con- 

 trol the headwaters;" ""We * * * 

 favor Government control of such lands 

 (non-irrigable public lands too dry for 

 cultivation) in order to restore their 

 value, promote settlement, and increase 

 the public resources ;" "Mineral fertil- 

 izers should not be monopolized by pri- 

 vate interests, but should be so con- 

 trolled by public authority as to pre- 



vent waste and to promote their pro- 

 duction in such quantity and at such 

 prices as to make them readily avail- 

 able for use." 



In discussing waters, the commis- 

 sioners express themselves as follows : 

 "We therefore favor the development 

 of inland navigation under general 

 plans adapted to secure the uniform 

 progress of the work and the fullest 

 use of the streams for all purposes. 

 We further express our belief that all 

 waterways so developed should be re- 

 tained under exclusive public owner- 

 ship and control." Nor are they will- 

 ing that private property rights shall 

 stand in the way of such a policy, for 

 under the same head they advise that 

 "Where the construction of works to 

 utilize water has been authorized by 

 public authority and such utilization is 

 necessary for the public welfare, pro- 

 vision should be made for the expro- 

 priation of any privately-owned land 

 and water rights required for such con- 

 struction." 



Such declarations from such a source 

 and such a vantage ground can- 

 not fail to be heard. Furthermore, so 

 transparent is their equity and so press- 

 ing is the need for the steps indicated, 

 that, being heard, such proposals must, 

 sooner or later, be heeded. 



Conservation of the Resources of the Planet 



MARK the sweep of the conserva- 

 tion movement ! First, we have 

 had forestry on a small, and then on a 

 gradually enlarging scale. Next came 

 the movement to conserve the resources 

 of the United States. In less than a. 

 year this developed into an effort to 

 conserve the resources of North Amer- 

 ica ; and now, growing directly out of 

 this latter movement, comes the dra- 

 matic proposal to convene a conference 

 to promote the conservation of the re- 

 sources of the World. 



This World-Conference, it is pro- 

 posed, shall meet next September at 

 The Hague, the headquarters of inter- 

 national gatherings. 



The initiation of this movement came 

 from President Roosevelt. Secretary 



