COMMITTEES ON BEHALF OF THE GOVERNMENT 323 
and the organization of a forestry school by the Government has 
not been necessary. Regarding the importance of the work of 
the committee of the Academy in the promotion of the forestry 
interests of the United States, Mr. Gifford Pinchot, who was a 
member of the committee, and has also been the most conspicuous 
advocate of scientific forestry in America, wrote in 1905: 
“The work of the committee of the National Academy of Sciences, while it 
failed of much that it might have accomplished, nevertheless was the spring from 
which the present activity in forest matters was derived. The proclamation of 
the reserves which it recommended drew the attention of the country as nothing 
else had ever done to the question of forestry. Vigorous discussion of forest 
matters by the public press led to a widespread interest, and that in turn to a keen 
appreciation of the value of forests in the economy of each State, and to a willing- 
ness to take measures to protect them. It may fairly be assumed that, as one 
of the results of this awakened interest, the policy of making Government forest 
reserves is now established beyond the reach of further question.” 177 
The following data were culled from the report of Secretary 
Wilson for 1912: 
In the midsummer of 1912 the Forest Service employed a total of 4097 persons 
and had an appropriation of over $5,000,000 for the current year. This bureau 
employed only thirteen persons sixteen years ago. Its administrative and pro- 
tective duties alone are discharged in thirty-four States and in Alaska. Besides 
having charge of the national forests, this bureau offers to provide owners of 
woodlands an opportunity to obtain practical advice and assistance looking toward 
the introduction of forest management on their holdings. 
Grazing of the forest lands, which was formerly done destructively, is now 
permitted under control of this Department. Grazing permits are issued, and in 
1912 over 26,000 permits were issued for the grazing of 1,400,000 cattle, 95,000 
horses, and nearly 7,500,000 sheep. 
In the care of the national forests much timber is sold, and in 1912 the 
timber sales numbered nearly 5800 and embraced 800,000,000 board feet, from 
which the receipts were over $1,000,000. The area of the national forests, June 
30, 1912, was over 187,000,000 acres. 
COMMITTEE ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A NATIONAL 
RESERVE IN THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS. 1902 
In 1902 the Academy received a letter from the chairman of 
the Senate Committee on Forest Reservations and the Protection 
of Game relative to the establishment of a reservation in the 
*7 Yearbook of the Dep. Agric., 1899, p. 297. 
