232 



CONSERVATION 



tions, it is hoped that evidence will 

 multiply still further justifying the 

 opinion that the West, as such, does 

 not sustain the reactionary attitude of 

 the senators who have thus again 

 blocked the passage of Appalachian 

 legislation. 



j^ i^' ):« 



The Forest Service in Congress 



READERS of Conservation will be 

 gratified to learn that the appro- 

 priation to the Forest Service for next 

 year is greater, by $750,000, than that 

 of last year. A still greater increase 

 would have meant a National economy ; 

 nevertheless, the fact that no ground 

 was lost and that substantial gains were 

 made afifords cause for congratulation. 



As was to be expected, the annual 

 onslaught upon the Service by a few 

 representatives and senators from 

 mountain states occurred in due course. 

 The remarks of Representative Mon- 

 dell, of Wyoming, which received little 

 consideration in Washington, and were 

 presumably designed chiefly for home 

 consumption, were typical, and notable 

 chiefly for the variety and picturesque- 

 ness of their inaccuracies. His charge 

 that the Service is wantonly extrava- 

 gant is easily met by the facts ; while 

 his assertion that "the effort of the 

 Forest Bureau is to grind every dollar 

 it can out of the people of the West" 

 is a characteristic product of "economic 

 determinism." As Mr. Weeks pointed 

 out, and as Mr. Shinn elaborates in 

 his article in the current issue of Con- 

 servation, some people living on or 

 near the public domain have so long 

 been accustomed to treating it as their 

 private property, or as common, not 

 to the whole people, but only to those 

 living in the vicinity, that the asser- 

 tion of National right in a National 

 asset inevitably created friction. 



That the ammunition of the critics 

 is running low may be inferred from 

 Senator Heyburn's charge that the 

 Forest Service people have descended 

 to the robbing of squirrels' nests to 

 obtain pine-nuts. The senator men- 



tions this as "an instance of the petty, 

 trivial, mean way in which they are 

 doing in this Service." "The poor 

 squirrels," we are told, "gather the 

 nuts, with the wing on the nut, take 

 them into their nests in the fall at their 

 leisure, take out the pine nuts and use 

 the wing for nests." This practise 

 Senator Heyburn denounces as "cruel," 

 and intimates that if a boy should do 

 such a thing, he would deserve to be 

 "thrashed." 



It is conceded that the Forester does 

 avail himself of the labor of squirrels 

 in the gathering of pine-nuts ; it seems, 

 furthermore, that this "private prop- 

 erty" is "taken for public use without 

 just compensation ;" it would appear, 

 therefore, that the senator, being a 

 lawyer, might bring action against the 

 Service for violation of Article 5 of 

 the Amendments to the Constitution 

 of the United States and such legis- 

 lation as has been based upon it. 



When George Stephenson, the im- 

 prover of the locomotive, was asked 

 what would happen if a cow got in 

 front of his engine, he declared that '"it 

 would be hard on the coo." In like 

 manner, it must be conceded that the 

 above-mentioned practise of the Forest 

 Service is a little hard on the squirrels : 

 nevertheless, should these interesting- 

 denizens of the forest appear, whether 

 through Senator Heyburn as counsel, or 

 otherwise, as complainants, it should 

 not be overlooked that "there are 

 others." For some ages past mankind 

 has resorted to practises anaiagous to, 

 if not identical with those criticised. 

 Senator Dolliver suggested that honey- 

 bees were subjected to similar treat- 

 ment. In like manner, it should be 

 noted, man has for some time resorted 

 to cows and goats for milk, and to 

 sheep for wool ; he has not hesitated 

 to avail himself of the labor of the ox 

 and horse, and he has even been known 

 to consume the flesh of the lower ani- 

 mals, including squirrels, to appease 

 his hunger. In mentioning the above, 

 full credit is given to the magnificent 

 work which such bodies as the Society 

 for the Prevention of Cruelty to Ani- 

 •mals are doing; nevertheless, when it 



