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Show I HOME RULE FOR WEST. The ucsiern governors who aro assembled as-sembled in Denver aro fighting the battle of homo rttlc for the west. They abject lo the absentee federal landlord-j?m landlord-j?m which gives bureaus and bureaucrats bureau-crats in Washington the right to dictate dic-tate what tho west shall do with tho lands of tho west. JSot nnil tho cast l'ad obtained possession of all its lands I from the government did the demand lor conservation arise. Xot until all the resources of the east had been p'a'-ed in private hands did our eastern east-ern brethren demand that the resources of ihe west should be kept out of jTivjilo hands. Suddenly the3' discover discov-er 1 that a heritage was in danger of being wasted. They had squandered Uieir own patrimony and they docided that the remaining heritage must bo preserved. They argued that inasmuch as flic federal government ownod the lauds in the western states the heritage did not bolong to the west, but' to the people of the entire country. The governors of the -west believe thai the land 5- in the west do not bo-lung bo-lung to tho casl. They believe that wc havo a ripht to homo rule. They belieo that neither the people of the east nor tho peoplo of futuro genera-lions genera-lions f-lioulil havo a voto in . dictating -what tho west shall do with its lands. When we permit future generations a ote in the matter wo havo absentee landlordism -with a vengeance. Aro vro not able to take care of our own af-fairs? af-fairs? Jf -wo are not, then "wo are in-capable in-capable of sclf-govornment. To argue that the peoplo of the westorn 6tates are moro corrupt than tho peoplo of the eastern states or than tho people of the United States as a whole is a gratuitous insult, and yet this is the avgimieut that is being employed to prevent Lhe west from developing -what .should bo its own property. The govcminont is a proprietor to tho extent of two-thirds, or more, of some of tho western states. It governs in this territory by means of bureaus at Washiugtpu. Two-thirds of a state is withdrawn from taxation by tho state. Two thirds of a stato is under tho ab-solute ab-solute control of an absentee proprietor, who wakes his owu rules without ref-erence ref-erence to the wishes of tho stato. Not only that, but this proprietor defies the sfato to. enforce its undoubted rights. For example, the state has a right, con-finned con-finned by decisions of state courts and fl the supreme court of tho United States, fl lo all the water within its borders ex-eopt ex-eopt such water as belongs to navigable streams, and yet the government at Washington refuses to permit tho state lo um- or control the water -within tho iialiuuid domniu. The proprietor, con-'rolling con-'rolling as ho docs the land through which the streams run, shuts out the slate from the -water by refusing rights ot way. We fiud, therefore, tho na-tioiial na-tioiial government not only exercising ts own rights, but oxcluding the states tram their rights. At. present the national government i'i insisting upon the gencrosit- of its proposed leasing system, ft -will give a state certain revenues from tho leas- 1 ".' of the lands. Whnt a liberal plan is lor the govcrnmcut to dole out a ,iit4nnrp now aud then as a sop to t.ie vtato tor holding the lands -within Mir state. In England Lloyd-George is seeking to break up tho great estates n' the clukcfl so as to divide them j an'ong 'ho people. Tn several of the v. c-irrn stales wo havo ono proprietor -o owns more land than all tho dukos m 'he United Kingdom, and -who -with-o'ds it vcith an even moro niggardly i.and from development. Conservation a good thinir, but development is bot- j tr. Hoarded -wealth may be sweet to 'ontrniplatc, but the wealth that is in j 'imitation is the wealth that counts j lor the prosperity and the happiness of ''c people. Therefore, let ub havo homo riV, |