264 



THE IERIGATION AGE. 



THE leases on school land, adaptable only for graz- 

 ing, will lapse immediately when surrounding territory 

 is included in forest reserves. Heretofore they have 

 been the keys to wider areas, but if the rates established 

 by the Forestry Department are extended it will be 

 an inducement for cattle owners to abandon school 

 section leaseholds and contribute to the national fund. 



THIS policy of robbing school children with forest 

 reserves has heretofore been applied only by skinning 

 timber from whole townships of unsurveyed lands 

 (which would include sections 16 and 36 if surveyed) 

 by order and sale of the forestry service. Protests 

 against the practice have been unavailing, but that 

 does not deter us from entering a more vigorous effort 

 to prevent extensions of the policy, unless the obliterated 

 revenues from school land leases is made good by the 

 national government. 



FEDERAL policies as executed by Messrs. Newell and 

 Pinchot involve interpretations that menace the school 

 fund all over the West. Mr. Newell's part consists 

 of his insistence upon school land under federal irriga- 

 tion projects passing from state to private ownership. 

 In some Western states, statutes exist which forbid 

 such transfer school lands being in the nature of a 

 permanent investment of school funds. 



To COMPEL an alteration of state law, that these 

 lands shall be sold, forces school children to part with 

 a most valuable asset and revenue producer and forest 

 reserve extension obliterates revenue from inferior 

 lands. Between the Newell and Pinchot millstones 

 may be found a basis for increased illiteracy. 



IF THIS condition is resultant of design, the heads 

 of reclamation and forestry divisions are filled with in- 

 famous purpose. If produced by accident of inexor- 

 able law, these individuals could well spend time in 

 working out a remedy. Neither has shown any in-* 

 clination, save to extend their processes of absorption. 



OUR remedy would be : if forest reserves are made 

 to -include school lands, that the federal government 

 reimburse for all leases, which are made inoperative by 

 reason of said action. In reclaimed areas, by national 

 legislation or ruling of the honorable secretary, extend 

 water privileges upon leaseholds (while observing the 

 land unit if necessary) and make the charges a lien 

 upon the lease, and all improvements and product. 



knowledge, could without doubt evolve a plan of justice 

 and equity which will solve the range problem. Con- 

 gressional opinion is chaotic and needs virile initiation 

 to crystallize it. The President has wisely observed 

 that the wide variety of conditions will compel a 

 classification of lands to arrive at an adequate and just 

 solution. 



THE bureaucratic inclinations of Mr. Pinchot, and 

 his ability to involve cumbering processes, and his lack 

 of quick executive perception, taken together with 

 urgent necessity and impending calamity to the cattle 

 industry, inspires an opinion that the work of classi- 

 fication, and control of the range be vested in a new 

 department under the Secretary of Agriculture. With 

 accessories such as Forest King Pinchot's operations 

 usually attach, little or no residue would remain for 

 experimental work. 



THE letter quoted from last month, addressed to 

 Mr. Anderson and from a gentleman connected with the 

 reclamation service, says: "Precedent and regulation 

 rule in departmental matters, and we are constrained 

 to act in accordance therewith." Why precedent? 

 Does precedent build republics, or deter our able Presi- 

 dent when executive action is required? The National 

 Irrigation Act, and every step in progress, shatters the 

 old fossilized ideas of precedent. A sheep can follow, 

 but these times need men to initiate. 



IF THE reclamation service realizes the "big task 

 that confronts," if it would have the co-operation of 

 everyone interested in the upbuilding of our Western 

 empire, as the letter states, why are sinecures re- 

 tained in service? 



THE area of unreclaimed lands is approximately 

 850,000,000 acres. In other words, there are more 

 than ten acres for every man, woman and child in the 

 United States. Moreover, this item is not so diminu- 

 tive but what everybody can see it if they sit up and 

 take any notice at all. 



OUB nation's executive, from his resources and 



ON ANOTHER page we reproduce the text of a bill 

 recently introduced in the House of Eepresentatives 

 by Congressman Steenerson of Minnesota. This bill 

 provides for a report to be made by the Secretary of 

 Agriculture, and also gives proper recognition to the 

 importance of drainage and the value of the Agricul- 

 tural Department's work in promoting the best interests 

 of irrigation. We think some of the provisions in 

 the bill are indispensable, and that the bill as a whole 

 should receive the unqualified support of all who wish 

 to place this important work in the right hands. 



