EEPOKT OF THE SECRETARY OP AGEICULTTJEE. 47 



and 1,514,000 sheep and goats on 85,027,472 acres. The number of 

 animals now sustained in proportion to the area of the Forests is 

 50 per cent greater than it was 10 years ago. Since 1905 the 

 number of persons holding grazing privileges has increased 

 nearly 200 per cent. This is due in part to the enlarged area 

 of the Forests, but can be attributed principally to wider use by set- 

 tlers and small stockmen. "Wlien the regulated system was estab- 

 lished the Forest ranges, like the open public lands to-day, rapidly 

 were being impaired. The productivity of the land for forage 

 in most places has been restored and everywhere is increasing; the 

 industry has been made more stable; stock comes from the Forests 

 in better condition; range wars have stopped; ranch property has 

 increased in value ; and a larger area has been made available through 

 range improvements. It is probable that 100,000,000 pounds of beef 

 and mutton are sold each year from herds and flocks occupying the 

 ranges. That the Forests have promoted the development of the 

 stock industry is indicated. This is appreciated by stockmen and 

 they are urging that a similar system of range regulation be extended 

 to the unreserved public lands. But it is not merely the stock in- 

 dustry that has been benefited. The grazing privilege has been so 

 distributed as to promote healthy community growth, increase settle- 

 ment, prevent monopoly, and diffuse prosperity. In other words, 

 public control has served social as well as economic ends. 



Water poioer. — The National Forests contain approximately one- 

 half of the water power of the West. The department for nearly a 

 decade has been issuing permits for its development. Unfortunately, 

 the present law does not authorize the granting of permits for fixed 

 periods. It should be amended, and recommendations to this end 

 have been made repeatedly by the department. Wliile authority to 

 grant term permits undoubtedly would aid water-power utilization, 

 the fact remains that development, practically to the extent of the 

 market, actually is now taking place on the Forests. In the Western 

 States power development has advanced proportionately very much 

 more rapidly than in the East, where land is privately owned. The 

 amount of water power used in the generation of electricity by public 

 utilities corporations, street railway companies, and municipalities 

 has in the last decade increased 440 per cent in the West, or more 

 than twice as fast as in the remainder of the country. There, in pro- 

 portion to population, four and one-half times as much water power 



