OCR Text |
Show BALLINGER REPORTS SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR TELLS OF WORK OF HIS DEPARTMENT. STILL AFTER LAND THIEVES Uroe. Continuation of Vigorous Prosecution Prose-cution and a Reclassification of the Public Domain Issuance of Reclamation Recla-mation Fund Bonds Advised The Indian Bureau. Washington, Nov. 29. The annual report to the president of Richard A. Ballinger, secretary of the interior, was made public to-day and makes interesting in-teresting reading. The report covers a portion of the time under the administration ad-ministration of James R. Garfield, and Mr. Ballinger gives him credit for his earnest and efficient services. Secretary Ballinger comments on the old public land statutes, and continues: con-tinues: "The liberal and rapid disposition of the public lands under these statutes and the lax methods of administration which for a long time prevailed naturally nat-urally provoked the feeling that the public domain was legitimate prey for the unscrupulous and that it was no crime to violate or circumvent the land laws. It is to be regretted that we, as a nation, were so tardy to realize real-ize the importance of preienting so large a measure of our natural resources re-sources passing into the hands of land pirates and speculators, with no view to development looking to the national welfare. Must Continue Prosecutions. "It may be safely said that millions of acres of timber and other lands have been unlawfully Obtained, and it is also true that actions to recover such lands have in most instances long since been barred by the statute of limitations. The principal awakening to our wasteful course came under your predecessor's administration. The bold and vigorous prosecutions of land frauds through Secretaries Hitchcock and Garfield, have restored a salutary respect for the law, and the public mind has rapidly grasped the importance impor-tance of safeguarding the further disposition dis-position of our national resources in the public land In the interest of the public good as against private greed. Notwithstanding this, it is necessary to continue with utmost vigor, through all available sources, the securing of information of violations of the public-land public-land laws and to follow such violations viola-tions with rigid prosecutions. Use Private Enterprise. "In this present policy of conserving the natural resources of the public domain, do-main, while development is the keynote, key-note, the best thought of the day is not that development shall be. by national na-tional agencies, but that wise utilization utiliza-tion shall be secured through private enterprise under national supervision and control. Therefore, if material progress is to be made in securing the best use of our remaining public lands, congress must be called upon to enact remedial, legislation." Mr. Ballinger then gives in detail his recommendations for the classification classifi-cation of public lands, and the features fea-tures of a measure which he advises for the direction of the disposal of water power sites. The Reclamation Service. Concerning the reclamation service, the report says in part: "In view of the importance of a speedy completion of existing projects and their proper extension, and of the necessity in 1912 of an adjustment between be-tween the states by which the major portion of the funds arising from the sale of public lands within each state and territory shall have been expended ex-pended so far as practicable within such state or territory, and in view of the importance of making a beneficial bene-ficial use of waters already appropriated ap-propriated or capable of appropriation appropria-tion to which rights may be lost for nonuse, I believe an urgent appeal ap-peal should be made to congress to authorize the issuance of certificates of indebtedness, or of bonds against the reclamation fund, to an aggregate of not exceeding $30,000,000, or so much thereof as may be needed." Energetic reorganization of the Indian In-dian bureau is in progress, says Mr. Ballinger, and he recommends that the Indian warehouses at New York, Chicago, Omaha, St. Louis and San Francisco be closed as soon as possible. pos-sible. A more advanced policy respecting re-specting the maintenance, improvement improve-ment and operation of the Yelowstone and Yosemite national parks is urged on the government. |