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Show T (CONSERVATION CONGRESS Tho National Cchservatlon Congress which opens In Washington tomorrow should bo of much value to tho west. It will bo moro national ln Its char- ' acter than any of Its predecessors, as delegates will attend from all parts of the country. Tho representation from tho west will bo largo and undoubtedly un-doubtedly will bo given nn opportunity opportun-ity to outllno their views completely. Through tho National Conservation Congress and similar conferences tho west will bo able to conduct a campaign cam-paign ot education that is essential If tho wist Is clearly to understand tho problems of conservation. Throughout the east I'Inchot was accepted as tho unerring prophet of a now day. Whenever protests wero mndo by western peoplo who managed to mnko themselves heard east of the Mississippi river, the adhorentB ot l'ichot Immediately aroso to sound nltjrm bells and build balefires of warning on all the baro hills of Now Kngland. Tho east had squandered Its heritage, and, repenting of Its folly, fol-ly, was determined that 4ho young west should not bo a spendthrift. The I'lnchotlsts shouted a warning that western men who declared In favor of developing tho west's resources wero actuated by self Interest and backed by sinister wealth. It Is this ghost which tho men of tho west must la If they nro to expect reasonable legislation and administration nt Washington, and whllo tho process may bo slow, yet n campaign of education edu-cation Is tho surest and the snfest method of spreading the truth among tho wholo peoplo. Western people aro not ln favor of , squandering tho national resources, I but they demand that theso resourc- i es shnll not bo locked up ln such a ( way as to prevent settlement nnd development of tho nation's richest I regions. They believe in tho con- 8ervrtlon of men ns well ns In tho conservntkja of resources. They ho- liovo that too much sympathy enn bo I wasted on tho unborn generations nnd too llttlo caro taken of tho present 1 generation. Trlbuno. i ... takes, hundreds of them elementary, and oven after monthB tho sennto did not succeed In eliminating them. Somo times wholo days wero consumed ln correcting spelling nnd punctuation and many of tho errors bordorod on tho ludicrous. Already tho B per cent reduction clause for tho benefit of American ships has been quietly killed by a legal opinion, and It will bo necessity neces-sity to get rid of other embarrassments embarrass-ments In soraowhat tho samo way. Unfortunately, tho Incomo tax troubles trou-bles cannot bo solved bo easily. It Is clearly a caso of not having ln tho sorvlco at Washington men who know what they aro trying to do. This Incompetence In-competence Is thklng tho tlmo and upsetting tho patlenco of tho successful success-ful men of tho wholo country tho mun who can pay tho Income tax and who nro thoreforo, tho men who count for most In business. Tho story of tho tariff of 1913 Is a story of Ignornnco and Incapacity. No such display of blundering Incompetence Incom-petence f to bo found In tno records of tariff legislation from July 4, 1789 when Georgo Washington signed tho first protectlvo tariff law imnsed by tho first United States Congress, down to tho presont day. Had tariff tar-iff laws hnvo been pnssod when tho freo trades from tlmo to tlmo got tho rolns of powor In their hands, but thoy woro bad laws mostly bo-causo bo-causo ot Uiolr freo trade charncter, I and thoy woro not nbsurd and rldlcu-I rldlcu-I lous ns tho Underwood Simmon law as In many of its provisions At least thoy were framed and enacted by men jwho know EomethfyE about tariff I making, whlld the law of 1913 fs the product of insufficient knowledgo nnd limited experience; a monumental mass of mistakes. Another Item in tao cntcgory ol ' blunders comes now into notlco ln ' connection with tho Cnnadlajn Agreo- I ment act of 1911. Was or was not that act entirely repealed by tho law of 1913? Over In Canada thoy think It wns repealed and that tho prortcr of free trade In agricultural products Is no longer open to acceptance by tho Dominion. Undoubtedly section 2 relating to print paper and pulp Is repealed by tho unqualified and un- reclprocal free trndo In pffper and pulp which Is provided for ln tho Underwood Un-derwood StmmonB latw. But as to the rest of tho law of 1911, which Cnnada refused to accept, no ono among our freo trade statesmen ln Washington seems to know for certain whether it still remains optional with Cahada to change her mind and concur' ln tho proposal of mutual freo trade ln farm products. Mr. Undorwood is quoted as saying that In his opinion with tho exception of section 2, the entire Canadian Agreement Act of 1911 Is still In forco. Tho Canadians take tho contrary view of tho matter. mat-ter. It Is not now of much consequence, conse-quence, ono way or tho other, because of tho placing outright on tho free list of so many ot Canada's natural products under Uio terms of tho tariff tar-iff of 1913; but Uio fact that In tho framing of this law Uio question was to disagreement and dlsputo serves to demonstrato anew the deplorable unfitness un-fitness of the present freo trade administration ad-ministration to deal intelligently with tho tariff question. |