Peete AO OU BONG (BU lei hatal N 5 
was represented by bills which purported to revise our antiquated mining 
laws, but really did little except restate them. Congressman D’Ewart of 
Montana introduced such a bill, H.R. 4983. It met with vigorous objections, 
but it is still on the calendar. Good bills to revise the mining laws were 
S. 783, introduced by Senator Clinton P. Anderson of New Mexico, and 
H.R. 5358, introduced by Congressman Clifford R. Hope of Kansas. 
The Ellsworth bill, H.R. 4646, would authorize trading of federal lands 
for private timber lands needed for dam building projects of the army 
engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation. If this bill were passed, the 
National Park Service and the National Forest Service would have little 
or no power to prevent loss of timbered areas in such trading. 
Land-grabbing bills in Congress usually involve Western lands and fre- 
quently our National Forests and the National Park System. Through long 
custom, committees on interior affairs are made up mostly of Western con- 
gressmen. Most bills involving public lands go through these committees. 
The land-grabbers prevail on certain congressmen to introduce such bills. 
Many congressmen do not realize the abuses they involve, or, if they do, 
yield to the pressure of vote trading. 
ia i ji! 
GRASS LAKE WILDLIFE REFUGE. The state of Illinois has purchased 750 
acres of marsh land around one side of Grass Lake, nearly fifty miles NNW 
of the Chicago Loop, in Lake County, for a wildlife refuge. Grass Lake is 
famous locally for its lotus beds, and it is popular with the hunters. It is 
shallow and more marshy than other lakes in the Fox River chain, and it 
is consequently much frequented by ducks and coots during the migration 
season. Local coot hunters, resort keepers, and other small business 
operators made a big protest during the summer, and many articles ap- 
peared in local newspapers on the subject. This was in spite of the fact 
that the State Department of Conservation promoted the establishment of 
the refuge in order to provide better waterfowl hunting in northern I[]linois. 
It is reported that there.is a plan to buy 250 additional acres for the 
refuge. A large portion of the lake will still be open to hunting, which will 
not be stopped until after this season. The main purpose of the project is 
to keep more waterfowl in the Fox Chain-of-Lakes region from migrating 
elsewhere because of intensive shooting. It is also hoped that there may be 
more breeding of waterfowl in the area. Although most members of the 
Illinois Audubon Society do not like waterfowl hunting, it should be recog- 
nized that this refuge will tend to increase the waterfowl population of 
Illinois. 
i fi By 
CRISIS FOR THE SOIL CONSERVATION SERVICE. Conservationists are justly 
aroused over the plan of Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson to 
abolish the Soil Conservation Service. This is in line with a drive to reduce 
taxes, and Secretary Benson has shown courage in resisting pressures to 
increase subsidies to farmers. However, it appears that the real motive for 
