OCR Text |
Show OUR PUBLIC LANDS POLICY Recent disclosures of improper handling of public affairs have been a shock to the nation. How much of the procedure is purely for political effect and how much of it is hard cold facts, the public has as yet been unable to ascertain. For many g ears the West was hampered by a conservation policy pol-icy which prevented development or utilization of oil lands, wasting wast-ing water powers and other public resources. A fight was waged in Congress for legislation which would permit per-mit the leasing of properties and their operation for the benefit of the people, title to remain with the government and proper return or compensation to be made for the lease. Public officials and business men in the West fought hard for this measure in order that stagantion policies carried on in the name of "conservation," might be removed from a dozen states and natural resources be utilized for the benefit of the present, as well as future generations. Great development has taken place as the result of the leasing bill which was eventually passed. So far as the public has been advised, no one yet knows whether the leases made by Secretary Fall were not in the best interest of the government or whether the present scandal regarding oil is due solely to the fact that money was paid a public servant of the government govern-ment by private interests to secure leases. Dishonest or incompetent administration does not change the principle involved in the leasing of public lands. It simply proves the apparent farilty of human nature in some instances when a money consideration can cause one to forget his duty in administering a public trust. It is to be hoped that years of hard work in evolving and adopting adopt-ing a leasing policy of public lands and resources in this nation will not, for politcal effect, be nullified. Let this national policy be continued under honest and efficient administration which will protect pro-tect the government interest and at the same time permit much needed need-ed development. |