HOW NATIONAL FORESTS WOULD 

 AFFECT THE PEOPLE 



'"PHE establishment of the proposed 

 National Forests in the Southern 

 Appalachians is intended like those 

 in the Western States to be for the 

 benefit of the people. 



Since the Federal Government owns 

 no land in the Eastern States which it 

 can set aside for forests, as has been 

 done in the West, it is proposed to pur- 

 chase the land. The way it is intended 

 to purchase is to buy rough land or 

 cut-over land suitable only for forest 

 purposes wherever it can be bought 

 cheaply, giving due regard for differ- 

 ence in value of the soil and the 

 amount of merchantable timber on the 

 land. The bill it is proposed to ask 

 Congress to pass for the establishment 

 of the Forests provides for securing 

 land by direct purchase from the own- 

 ers. No person could be forced to 

 give up either his land or his home, 

 but should he wish to sell at a rea- 

 sonable price, and should the land be 

 forest land of the character desired by 

 the Government, it would be bought 

 for cash in the same manner as if by 

 a lumber company. The object of the 

 National Forests is to make homes 

 more valuable, not to destroy them. 



There are several very important 

 motives for the establishment of these 

 Forests, none of which will operate to 

 the detriment of the people in the re- 

 gion where it is proposed to locate 

 them ; and most of which will be for 

 their benefit. 



In the first place it is intended to 

 buy only the highest, steepest, and 

 roughest of the mountain land which is 

 not suitable for farming, and wherever 

 there are small areas within the For- 

 est which are suitable for farming 

 they will be used for this purpose. 



It is expected that retaining this 

 mountain land in timber and reserv- 

 ing a deep leaf mold on it by prevent- 

 ing fires will lessen river floods which 

 are becoming higher and more danger- 



ous every year, damaging farm lands, 

 buildings, and mills, and washing 

 away roads and railroads. This regu- 

 lation of the streams will add to the 

 value of water power, and promote 

 the building of factories which are so 

 much needed in the mountains. 



The timber in the forests will be so 

 managed that the valuable trees like 

 poplar and oak will not become ex- 

 hausted, but that the supply of lum- 

 ber for building purposes, and furni- 

 ture factories, and of wood for paper- 

 pulp, and tanning will be perpetuated. 

 Local industries and local users of 

 wood will be given preference in se- 

 curing this timber over outside buy- 

 ers. Good roads will be built into 

 the forests to enable timber to be got- 

 ten out at all times, and these roads 

 will always be open to the people. In 

 the National Forests of the West cat- 

 tle and sheep are grazed in the for- 

 ests upon the payment of a small fee 

 for each head, and the same would 

 probably be done in the East. 



A number of people would be em- 

 ployed in building roads, getting out 

 timber, and protecting the forest, 

 while in some places men would be em- 

 ployed to plant such trees as poplar 

 and oak, which are becoming scare. 



Since the Government pays no 

 taxes, a provision is made to reim- 

 burse the counties by giving them for 

 school and road purposes ten per cent 

 of the gross receipts from the sale of 

 timber or other income of the forest. 



The object is to create the forests 

 for the benefit of all the people and 

 not for the benefit of any one class. 

 In compensation for this, the Gov- 

 ernment would probably wish the 

 States in which the forests lie to as- 

 sist in protecting them from fire, and 

 to aid private timber-land owners who 

 do not wish to sell to the Government 

 in so managing their timber holdings 

 as to secure the highest returns from 

 them. 



