NATIONAL FORESTS AND PUBLIC 



OPINION* 



BY 



Lydia Adams- Williams, of Washington, D. C. 



""PHE policy of President Roosevelt 

 is to give to all questions, national 

 and international, the fullest measure 

 of publicity. 



Any project, public or private, 

 which will not bear discussion is not 

 worthy of the earnest consideration of 

 the thoughtful and conservative. 



During the last, the 59th, term of 

 our National Congress, the search- 

 light of thorough investigation and of 

 public opinion was turned upon all 

 the branches and operations of the Na- 

 tional Forest policy of the Govern- 

 ment, as exemplified in the Forest 

 Service. 



What was the result? Was this 

 policy of the Government injured, 

 impaired, or crippled in any way by 

 the fierce attack and by the publicity 

 given all its motives and workings? 



On the contrary, the Government 

 forest policy rose triumphant and un- 

 scathed from the fierce onslaught 

 made upon it. 



The contest raised unexpected 

 friends. Unlooked-for and powerful 

 influences developed from unthought- 

 of sources ; old and valued adherents 

 and advocates redoubled their zeal in 

 its defense. 



So far from injuring the National 

 Forest policy, the debate and the pub- 

 licity resulted in educating the reading 

 public to the wisdom, value and ne- 

 cessity of the present policy, and its 

 beneficent workings. 



As the logical result, $500,000 was 

 granted the Service for permanent im- 

 provements ; $1,900,000 for adminis- 

 trative expenditures ; and the balance 

 of the special fund, $600,000, was left 

 at the disposal of the Service ; thus 

 making the available resources of the 

 Forest Service for the year ending 



June 30, 1908, over $3,000,000. 



Feeling that a further expression of 

 public opinion would be helpful to the 

 far-reaching and incalculably valu- 

 able forest policy of the Government 

 and the proposed Appalachian and 

 White Mountain National Forests, 

 and that it would further tend to edu- 

 cate on these important subjects, the 

 writer endeavored, by letter, to get an 

 expression of opinion from people of 

 prominence whose ideas mold public 

 sentiment. 



I regret to say that there was not 

 time to reach many whose opinions 

 would have been most valuable ; also 

 that many to whom I wrote were 

 away ; and that replies from many oth- 

 ers could not reach me in time for in- 

 corporation in this paper. 



Still I was able to get opinions from 

 several, and will submit them here. 



The attitude of President Roose- 

 velt on the broad questions of fores- 

 try and irrigation is well known, as 

 he has proclaimed his views again and 

 again in messages and addresses. He 

 recently said : 



"If ever the time should come when 

 the Western forests are destroyed, 

 there will disappear with them the 

 prosperity of the stockman, the miner, 

 the lumberman, and the railroads, 

 and. most important of all, the small 

 ranchman, who cultivates his own 

 land." 



Vice-President Fairbanks has re- 

 peatedly affirmed his life-long belief 

 in the feasibility of the irrigation and 

 forest policies as now carried on by 

 the Government, and he recently said : 



"The rapid increase of population 



*Address before the Fifteenth National Irrigation Congress, at Sacramento, 

 California. 



