THE IKKIGATION AGE. 



501 



agent. He has been able to do much himself. He has 

 done much more through his department, and with his 

 great appropriations for forest work he has been able to 

 carry on an advertising department that excels anything 

 we know of, with the possibility of some of the patent 

 medicine companies. He has gone further. He has started 

 societies for the sole purpose of getting support and he 

 has worked other societies and secured their help regard- 

 less of their aims and purposes. The Daughters of the 

 American Revolution, for instance, have been furnished 

 with printed advertising and requested to have the same 

 published in local papers. In the meantime the appropria- 

 tions for his department have run into the millions, six 

 and seven millions being not uncommon. Enough money 

 has been appropriated by congress to buy all of the tim- 

 ber controlled by the government at the present time. The 

 money would have been more profitably spent had the 

 government paid a bounty on lumber imported. 



Mr. Pine hot is active. He has worked so hard to con- 

 vince congress that trees deserve more support than do 

 the people of western states, that he has become intoxi- 

 cated with his own success and this has led him to go a 

 step further. He has spent his evenings and his spare time 

 talking with companions who are in pursuit of power 

 along other branches of government service and this little 

 band has originated a comprehensive scheme for reserving 

 and conserving everything. It is a plan of such breadth 

 and depth that it embraces forests, pure food, the white 

 slave traffic and other economic, political and social prob- 

 lems. By preaching continuously and by adroit manipula- 

 tion of a combination of press bureaus the public has been 

 reached very thoroughly. It would seem that some of the 

 leading universities, where careful consideration of every 

 problem would be anticipated, are the centers of the pro- 

 Pinchot feeling. It is probably natural that this is true, 

 for Mr. Pinchot has not forgotten the universities in his 

 general advertising scheme. He has placed government 

 money there and has employed men to do forest work, 

 so-called, presumably as instructors, but in reality as 

 advance agents and advertisers. 



Misrepresentation and advertising not accompanied 

 by good works can only produce effects which are slight 

 and evanescent. If we judge Mr. Pinchot by his advertis- 

 ing he is a great man. If we judge him by his accom- 

 plishments he is nothing but an advertiser. Readers of 

 the advertising may not believe this. They will not believe 

 that Mr. Pinchot, the idol of the reformer and the martyr 

 to a "great cause," has co-operated for years with the lum- 

 ber trust, that he has worked closely for years with agents 

 and lobbyists of various corporations and that he has 

 exchanged privileges, that can only be granted by the 

 government, for political support. Present conceptions 

 of Mr. Pinchot in the public mind are based on a misunder- 

 standing that has been created for a purpose. The truth 

 must become apparent within the next few months or a 

 year. An investigation as to the expenditure of govern- 

 ment money, as to the source of revenue to run the pub- 

 licity department he conducted and an inquiry into the 

 character of his associates and co-laborers, will be sufficient 

 to explode the bubble that has been so adroitly developed. 

 The conservation campaign was the last step in the 

 advertising program. It has been a good card and it has 

 been well played. If the people of the east or the readers 

 of the current magazines anywhere feel that natural re- 

 sources are not being used to their best advantage if 

 they fear that monopoly is to develop in the use of any 

 such resource, we ask them to investigate on the ground 



for themselves. We ask them not to form their final 

 opinions because some person who is paid for writing 

 articles for public digestion says that Mr. Pinchot's views 

 are based on the truth. 



It has been evident to many bureau chiefs at Wash- 

 ington that when the public domain disappears, their de- 

 partments will be very insignificant, if they are not aban- 

 doned altogether. These chiefs, among them Mr. Pinchot, 

 have consequently attempted to bring about a sentiment 

 favorable to the reservation of lands from settlement. 

 During the past few years every obstacle has been thrown 

 in the path of progress that can possibly be discovered by 

 these sub-departments. Immense tracts of lands, not valu- 

 able for forests, have been added to the area set aside for 

 forest reserves. Thousands of acres have been set aside as 

 coal lands, oil lands, phosphate lands, gas lands, power 

 sites, etc. This means stagnation in development, be- 

 cause the general government cannot develop these re- 

 sources. It means that those who already have possession 

 of natural resources have an unrestricted market, all com- 

 petition being smothered. Yet as long as these vast areas 

 are reserved and as long as the people cannot use the 

 resources that are locked up, these few government officers 

 will have employment and their departments will flourish. 



We simply say in conclusion that the West is getting 

 very tired of this misrepresentation. The effects of Mr. Pin- 

 chot's campaign has been felt in every county in the West. 

 It has brought hardships to the settler and the ranchman. 

 It has made him guilty of a crime as soon as he made a 

 filing on public land in compliance with existing laws. 

 It has made him an object of suspicion and a mark for 

 the special agent who to "make good" must prosecute 

 some one. In the meantime the big operator in public 

 lands is immune. He remains undisturbed. Certain scrip 

 which is held by corporations through the activity of Mr. 

 Pinchot is worth three and four times as much today as it 

 was when the holders obtained it. There are six million 

 acres of one particular brand of scrip. What a commotion 

 there would have been had this scrip gone into the hands 

 of some poor homesteader! It goes to the corporations, 

 through the recommendation of Mr. Pinchot, and nothing 

 is said. How long will these matters be concealed from 

 the public and when will those who read and try to keep 

 abreast of the times understand what has been going on 

 during the past eight or ten years? 



Defining 

 Western 

 Water 

 Rights. 



A'o principle develops more slowly than 

 when it depends for recognition upon in- 

 stitutions which are either ignorant as 

 to its value or where they are influenced 

 by some precedent which under a new 

 order of things cannot logically apply. 

 We are persuaded to make this statement in connection 

 with a review of the history of water rights in the West. 

 California first look up the problem. Because no intelli- 

 gent and able leader appeared to show the way, disputes 

 over the division of water naturally went to the courts. 

 The courts were not trained in these matters and conse- 

 quently had to do the best possible by referring to the 

 doctrines of the English Common Law. That California 

 court decisions have not been satisfactory is recognized 

 so fully that no discussion of early cases need be entered 

 into. Colorado and other States followed the California 

 practice. No student of irrigation matters appeared in 

 reality until Dr. Elwood Mead and his associates had in- 



