126 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



nual payments, which preclude the tying 

 up of power sites in order to restrict pro- 

 duction and thereby maintain high rates 

 to the consumer. 



Fundamentally, the course of the forest 

 service in handling water power questions 

 rests on three principles: (1) That the 

 government as owner of the land has the 

 right to fix the conditions under which a 

 private individual may take possession of 

 it for private business use; (2) that as 

 trustee for the public it is the duty of the 

 government, on the one hand, not to per- 

 mit the use of public property without se- 

 curing a due return to the public, and on 

 the other hand, that this return should not 

 be obtained on terms which could in any 

 way lessen the supply to the public of an 

 important industrial commodity; and (3) 

 that it is the duty of the government, in 

 the public interest, to prevent the tying up 

 of power either by speculators who initi- 

 ated rights with a view of selling them out 

 at a high price or by those who would pre- 

 vent full development of the potential 

 power supply in the interest of market 

 control. 



This policy in no way conflicts with or 

 diminishes the power of the states to reg- 

 ulate corporations engaged in the supply 

 of hydro-electric power. It is considered, 

 for example, that any regulation of rates 

 charged the consumer which may be 

 necessary will naturally be undertaken by 

 the states. Neither is any attempt made 

 at federal regulation of the corporations 

 engaged in the development of electrical 

 power as corporations. The federal gov- 

 ernment takes cognizance of the matter 

 simply because, as the owner of title to 

 land held in trust for the people of the 

 United States, it is in duty bound to pro- 

 mote the full development of the natural 

 resources of the land, without directly or 

 indirectly handing them over to private in- 

 dividuals for their exclusive use and 

 benefit. 



The report calls attention to the need of 

 vesting in the Secretary of Agriculture 

 power to grant permits irrevocable for a 

 considerable term of years except for 

 breach of the conditions of use fixed by the 

 permit itself. This is necessary in order 

 to insure the stability that will encourage 

 capitalists to invest large sums in develop- 

 ment enterprises. 



The number of free special-use permits 

 issued during the year was 2,9SG — prac- 

 tically the same as the year before. The 

 number of such permits In effect at the 

 close of the year was 6,989 as against 5,540 

 one year previously. 



The forest force of supervisors, deputy 

 supervisors, rangers, guards, forest assist- 

 ants, field assistants, timber and mining 

 experts, hunters and clerks, numbers 

 2,536. The policy of distributing the work 

 of the service among the forest districts 



has been continued and at present only 18 

 per cent of the entire enrollment (3,091) 

 of the service are engaged in administra- 

 tive, executive and clerical work in local- 

 ities other than on the national forests. 

 The number of rangers has been increased 

 by 293 so that the average area in charge 

 of each ranger is 104,307 acres instead of 

 125,065 acres. This is evidently too large 

 a territory to look after adequately. The 

 requirements for rangers have been made 

 more exacting and the minimum salary 

 has been increased to correspond with the 

 higher quality of service expected. The 

 minimum pay is now $1,100 instead of 

 $900. 



The present estimate of the total stand 

 in the national forests exclusive of Alaska 

 is 530,000,000,000 feet. 



As the reports of forest fires are made 

 by seasons, this report covers only fire 

 conditions for the calendar year of 1909. 

 The forester calls attention to the great 

 need of adequate protection and says that 

 it will be brought about as rapidly as pos- 

 sible. It requires (1) the removal of the 

 causes of fire; (2) a proper organization 

 and equipment of the forests for protec- 

 tion; and (3) efficient patrol. 



The use of oil as fuel by some of the 

 railroads brought ideal results. The Chi- 

 cago, Milwaukee and Puget Sound Rail- 

 road uses oil burning engines through the 

 forests of the northwest. During the 

 summer of 1910 reports show that not a 

 single fire was started from the engines 

 of that company. On all lines using spark- 

 ing fuel repeated fires were started, in 

 some cases twenty-five to thirty fires in a 

 single day within a stretch of fifty miles. 

 The forester urges the need of at least one 

 regular patrol to every ten thousand acres 

 in the heavily timbered forests during the 

 dry periods. 



The total cut of national forest timber 

 was 379.616.000 feet cut under sale and 

 104,796,000 cut under free use. The sales 

 of timber in 1910 amounted to $1,400 922 69- 

 in 1909, $568,903.02. These figures show 

 an average stumpage price for 1910 of 

 $2.44, as against $1.98 in 1909. The ob- 

 ject of national forest timber sales is by no 

 means solely the gathering of a harvest 

 which nature has planted and matures. 

 The supply of virgin timber in the United 

 States is the heritage of centuries and 

 must soon give out unless a new invest- 

 ment is made. Silviculture is the mak- 

 ing of such an investment. Most timber 

 sales are planned with a view to securing 

 by one and the same operation the in- 

 gathering of the ripened crop and the sow- 

 ing of a new crop. The only cases in 

 which this is not true are when the cut- 

 ting is applied as a means of stimulating 

 increased growth in established stands, 

 with utilization at the same time of the 

 surplus material removed, and when th« 



