EDITORIAL 171 



one, and the authority of his statements has not been successfully challenged. 

 Here we have the expert testimony of a competent geologist, based on a long 

 and patient reconnaissance on the ground, as to the actual soil conditions in 

 these important drainage areas. The report has a direct bearing on the woi-k 

 of salvage and development now to be undertaken by the general government. 



THE OWNERSHIP OF TIMBERLANDS 



THE first part of the long awaited report of the Commissioner of Cor- 

 porations on the lumber industry is a document of great interest. The 

 facts which it presents are not new or surprising to those who were at 

 all informed on the subject, although they probably are to the country at 

 large. They .show in a striking way the facilities which our public land 

 methods have offered for the development of large, private holdings; that the 

 government, in fact, has been engineering a magnificent get-rich-quick enter 

 prise from which many men have naturally profited. It also points out the 

 possible consequence in the future of development along the same line. This 

 is what really concerns us as a practical problem. What is done cannot be 

 undone. What is to be done is at least partially within our control. 



The first deduction, and the only one to which we now wish to call atten- 

 tion, is the unanswerable argument that this large control of our timber- 

 lands by a few private holders makes for the maintenance on as large a scale 

 as possible of national forests and of state forests in every state for the se- 

 curity of the people's interest by maintaining healthy conditions in the lumber 

 industry. This is the only practicable check that can be put upon the power 

 of great private owners. 



AMERICAN CONSERVATION 



THE new magazine announced sometime ago by the National Conserva- 

 tion Association has appeared for the month of February under the 

 title American Conservation. It should be a valuable instrument for 

 tiie association that publishes it in keeping its public in touch with various 

 phases of the conservation work. We extend to it a cordial welcome and the 

 best wishes of American Forestuy for wisdom to guide its course and power 

 to enforce the great principles for which it stands. 



