258 



CONSERVATION 



Here the question rested at the opening 

 of the second session of the Sixtietli 

 Congress. The shortness of this ses- 

 sion, the many poHtical conipHcations. 

 the unwiUingness of Congress to enact 

 any general legislation carrying an ap- 

 propriation, were conditions unfavor- 

 able to success, but the Appalachian 

 forest project had gained a momentum 

 which was sure to bring it to the front. 



Notwithstanding the heavy handicap, 

 of political conditions, the supporters 

 of the Senate bill again appeared before 

 the House committee on agriculture on 

 December 9, 1908. Governor Guild, of 

 Massachusetts, headed the delegation 

 and he was supported by Governor 

 Ansel, of South Carolina, ex-Governor 

 Pardee, of California, Governor Cham- 

 berlain, of Oregon, and President Van 

 Hise, of the University of Wisconsin. 

 These names of representative men 

 from widely separated states show how 

 broad and unselfish is the support of 

 this project. Once again public men 

 and experts from many states testified 

 to the need of the proposed action by 

 the national government, and numer- 

 ous resolutions from boards of trade, 

 merchants' associations, and chambers 

 of commerce were added to the mass 

 that hatl already gone on record. Fol- 

 lowing this hearing Mr. Weeks, of 

 Massachusetts, and Mr. Lever, of 

 South Carolina, with the assistance of 

 Mr. Currier, of New Hampshire, un- 

 dertook to prepare a substitute for the 

 Senate bill that would be acceptable to 

 a majority of the committee and would 

 pass the House. The result of this was 

 the so-called ^^'eeks bill, which was ac- 

 cepted by the committee January 28, by 

 a vote of eleven to seven, and was re- 

 ]:)orted to the House. 



This bill incorporated from the Scott 

 bill the clauses permitting states to 

 combine for forestry purposes, and ap- 

 propriated $100,000 for the use of the 

 Secretary of Agriculture in assisting 

 any state or group of states in protect- 

 ing from fire the forested watersheds 

 of navigable streams, it being provided 



tliat each state so assisted should have 

 in its own law a system of fire protec- 

 tion. The bill further appropriated 

 from the income not otherwise appro- 

 priated of present and future National 

 Forests the sum of $1,000,000 for the 

 fiscal year ending June 30, 1909, and 

 not exceeding $2,000,000 each year for 

 nine years following, "for use in the 

 examination, survey and accjuirement 

 of lands located on the headwaters of 

 navigable streams or those which aie 

 being or which may be developed for 

 navigable purposes." This money was 

 to be expended by a board consisting of 

 the Secretaries of War, the Interior, 

 and Agriculture, one Senator and one 

 Representative, on recommendation of 

 the Secretary of Agriculture, after ex 

 amination and report by the Geological 

 Survey to ascertain the fitness of said 

 lands for the desired purpose. Other 

 provisions of the bill make it conform 

 to the general administrative practise 

 of the National Forest system. The 

 report accompanying this bill was 

 signed by Kittredge Haskins of Ver- 

 mont, William W. Cocks of New 

 York, Ralph D. Cole of Ohio, Ernest 

 M. Pollard of Nebraska, Clarence C. 

 GiLHAMS of Indiana, James C. Mc- 

 Laughlin of Michigan, John W. 

 Weeks of Massachusetts, John Lamb 

 of Virginia, Asbury F. Lever of South 

 Carolina, Augustus O. Stanley of 

 Kentucky, and J. Thomas Heflin of 

 Alabama. A minority report, which 

 held that the connection of forests on 

 the watersheds with the navigability 

 of streams was not established and that 

 the proposed legislation opened the 

 way to enormous and unjustifiable ex- 

 penditure, was signed by the chairman 

 of the committee, Charles F. ScoT'r 

 of Kansas, and by William Lorimer 

 of Illinois, George W. Cook of Colo- 

 rado, Jack Beall of Texas, and W. 

 W. RucKER of Missouri. Individual 

 minority reports were made by W. C. 

 Hawley of Oregon and Gilbert N. 

 Haugen of Iowa. 



