Show WILBUR SEEKS TO TRANSFER PUBLIC DOMAIN TO STATES ft NEW POLICY WOULD TAKE EFFECT ON ASSURANCE OF PROPER regulation OF SURFACE RIGHTS SAYS SECRE T TARY OF THE INTERIOR the water conscious citizens of the western states are more competent than the federal government to devise measures tor water conservation upon which their very life de ponds it was declared july 15 by the secretary of the interior ray lyman wllbur in a st lenient outlining a proposal for a mcw public land alicy which would transfer to the states the control of the surface rights of public lands not included in national parks monuments and forests the full text of mr statement follows we now have scattered settlements all over the western part of the united states based on better fanning better selected seeds and irrigation those who depend upon the regular rains of the summer have no conception of irrigation and its peculiar responsibilities great civilizations have matured and some of them have died in the arid regions of the old world and some are now on the way in tho new it demands communal living and thinking and peaceful conditions for people to join in together to finance and maintain large water distributing systems states better equipped even the control of the how of water from a single ditch demands rigid cooperation and fair play it Is to this that ascribe the responsiveness of the people of such states as are here represented to forward looking pro gresslee gress lve measures for the common good if th eyare properly tempered to the high and sense of personal responsibility characteristic of our citizens it Is important for us to face the present situation squirley squar ley the sate ty and survival of the human race depends upon its control of the green coloring matter of plants this substance in the presence of water and sunlight and with the materials derived from the soil manufactures starch and other food substances for the growth of plants from these plants we derive foods cotton wool wood and rubber and by feeding animals with them we get more food hides and s large amount of animal service in fact without the milk manufactured from plants by cows and goats we would be unable to raise our own human babies with our new methods of transportation the food supply of the world Is coming more and more to be held in common to be drawn on by all and the tropical sunshine beating down on a cocoanut coco anut palm days in the year Is competing with a reindeer feeding on the mosses of the summer in the making of fat we now have i more than sufficient food available tor all and while it Is probable that we will breed up to the bread line countries like our own think of the bread line in other terms than those of merely filling the stomach they de mand an economic status that would have been luxury to a king of a hundred years ago there Is though a set physiological limit to the amount of food an individual consumes we have produced too much of some kinds and with the industrialization and urbanization of a growing percentage of our people there has also been a shift in the type of foods eaten arid areas increased this together with the greater productiveness of favored areas with the help of better seed better methods and more machinery has increased the amount of so called marginal lands where the farmers life Is a struggle against heavy odds I 1 know of no more plaintiff act than to place a man and particularly his wife on a piece of land where they are forror bained to a prolonged agonizing failure the economics of a new farm project must be essentially sound or a social crime Is in prospect these facts must be held before us in considering that great part of the western united states which Is still in the possession of the federal government there has been a good deal of talk of conservation the real conservation problem of the west Is the conservation of water plant life demands water we must have plants suitable for our own uses or we can have no civilization from nebraska west water and water alone Is the key to our future we need the mountains and taft and a great protected back country or we cannot have sufficient water for our valleys we must replace homestead thinking with watershed i thinking since are mary to western homes we can no longer afford to think only in terms of immediate uses and selfish interests there must be a great western strategy for the protection of our watersheds and the plank life on them however undesirable and unimportant some ol 01 it may seem to be A cactus or a sagebrush which has fought its way to maturity against drought plays its part in furthering rainfall and in stopping soil erosion that curse of all cultivated countries overgrazing by sharp nosed animals cuts down the plant afe ufe increases erosion buries water holes increases flood damage and is harmful to water conservation plants hold the snow and the rain prevent rapid run oft and soil erosion and build a balanced set of natural conditions which can only be broken at the peril of those bringing it about conservation necessary the public domain has been abused overgrazed over grazed and not reacted in many sections of the country and yet unless we cherish and care tor the lands now in possession of the united states in forests and public domain we in the west will repeat tie fall of ancient ninevah and tyre which was due to the abuse of plant life and water failure or the degradation of korea and parts of china with man made barrenness floods erosion and decay we must stop thinking in terms of immediate production in viewing much of the public land of today the forests must be protected or harvested constructively overgrazing must be stopped and experts in plant life and water conservation must be our guides it Is difficult to understand and properly control such problems from washington it seems to me that it is time for a new public land policy which will include transferring to those states hlll ipg to accept the responsibility the control of the surface rights of all public lands not included in national parks or monuments or in the national forests with sound state policies based on actual thinking it may eventually develop that it is wiser for the states to control even the present national forests such a policy will need to be worked out so as to hold the oil coal and mineral rights of public lands subject to some form of proper federal prospecting law with development on a royalty basis of discoveries and with due consideration to conservation tor the future the policy of transferring federal lands for school purposes Is well established and could be further initiated wherever state laws and state policy warrant the transfer the states of the west are water conscious and they can more readily build up those wise water conservation measures upon which their very life depends than can the distant washington government it would be fair too for the citizens of western states to have the privileges already in the possession of those of the east responsibility makes for real statehood just as it makes for manhood the western states are man grown and capable of showing it the national government can still be helpful in building dams in protecting navigable streams and in assisting with state compacts but it should withdraw from the details of management of community enterprises properly subject to state laws you men representative of the western states could well prepare your state government by proper park grazing lumbering and water conservation laws for the reception OL the public domain I 1 feel that libbe long run you can be moreL safety trusted to administer that heritage wisely than it can be done from offices in the national capital it will require trained vision and forward thinking if the semiarid semi arid west Is to conserve its own future frank A jugler of ogden business manager of the W J parker interests was in moab monday transacting business he was accompanied by C L general superintendent of the parker canneries mr parker owns and operates a large number of canning factories in the part of the state and the busy reason will start in about two weeks tanning fruits and vegetables carroll J meador left yesterday morning for monticello to spend pioneer day with mrs meador and children who are visiting there 1 |