Show NEED NEW POLICY IN LAND MATTERS nt being choked when monopolist wits was hut out government also builder the debt has just cause for complaint against the conservation according to the admission made by secretary of interior lane in his annual re port and he be sets forth with characteristic frankness the reasons why complaint is justified discussing generally the public land situation secretary lane in hla his report leport says there exists a feeling in the west that its affairs and needs have not been given that consideration at the hands of the national government which they merit this feeling is not confined to speculators or exploiters it 1 lh the sentiment of many who are without selfish motive and regard the matter wholly from the standpoint of national growth they point to the conditions which obtain in alaska as unparalleled among people of our aggressive and nation building stock so too they are unable to understand why ways have not been found by which the great bodies of coal and oil lands of phosphate and potash lands may be developed and the waters of the mountains made available for the generation of powei and the redemption of the desert there Is one very simple explanation for the existence of this feeling we have adventured upon a new policy of all ministering our affairs and have not developed adequate machinery we have called a halt on methods of spoliation which existed exis tedi to the great benefit of many but we have failed to substitute methods sane healthful and pio pi gres sive by which the normal enterprise ter prise of an ambitious people can make full use of their own resources we abruptly abrupt y closed opportunities to the monopolist but did not open them to the developer the secretary says the land laws were framed with the idea of disposing of the public lands as ly as possible and for years lands were dispensed with a atee hand to ibe railroads to the states an to others there was land for all he says and it was the governments glad function to distribute it and let those prosper who could there was no thought then n of creating timber barons or cattle cattie 1 kings or of coal monopoly land Is land save when it contains minelaos minel als this was roughly the broad principle adopted it if the government did not appreciate the invaluable nature of the assets there were trien men who did the secretary added then came the reaction then came the withdraw withdrawals which are even no noy now y in effect commenting on this changed condition secretary lane says the old philosophy that laud is land was evidently unfitted to a 4 country where land is sometimes timber and sometimes coal Inde indeed eto where laid land may mean water water for tens of thousands of nedy neighboring for foi the lands of the west differ as men do in character and condition and degree of usefulness nep we had not recognized this fact when we ive said land to Is land lands fitted for dry farming and lands that must forever lie unused without irrigation lands that are worth less save for khoii timber lands that aila aie rich in grasses glasses and lands that are poor in grasses lands underlain with the minerals essential to industry ind or agri agrical cul ture lands landa that are invaluable for reservoir or dam sites these varieties may be multiplied and each now new variety emphasize the fact that each kind of land lias its own future and affords its own opportunity port unity tor for contributing to the nations wealth so there has slowly evolved in the public mind the conception of a new policy that land should be used for that purpose to which it is best fitted and it should be disposed of by the government with respect to that use to this policy I 1 belleve beleve the west is now reconciled conci led the west no longer urges a return to the hazards of the land is island land policy but it does ask action it Is reconciled conci conel led to the government making all proper safeguards against monopoly and against the subversion of the spirit of all our land laws which Is in essence that hat all suitable lands shall go into hoine and all other lands shall be developed for that purpose which shall make them of greatest service but it asks that the machinery be promptly established in the law by which the lands may be used and this demand is reasonable already the congress has recognized in many ways the appositeness of this policy but it Is for yourself and congress to further extend this thought into our legislation |