THE CRISIS IN NEW YORK 



169 



William F. Fox, Secretary to the 

 Forestry Commission, and later Super- 

 intendent of Forests, who, though a 

 democrat, was retained by Commis- 

 sioners of both parties till his death in 

 1910. 



Old customs die hard, and the 

 doctrine that public property is public 

 spoils was still in its vigorous prime 

 when the State undertood this momen- 

 tous enterprise. It was one thing to 

 set aside these lands, but quite another 

 thing to protect them. Beaten in their 

 efforts to filch away the titles, the 

 spoilers continued to trespass boldly 

 and almost with impunity, and the 

 State's timber continued to disappear. 

 The Forestry Commission was short 

 of reliable agents, lacked good maps, 

 and had few surveys. The lands were 

 widely scattered. Worse still, some of 

 the trespassers had powerful political 

 influence and many cases were over- 

 looked or compromised. 



These conditions culminated in '93, 

 when an investigation was ordered 

 which revealed a most scandalous in- 

 efficiency on the part of the Commission. 

 The Constitutional Convention was 

 about to meet. Most unfortunately, this 

 same legislature had been persuaded 

 by prominent foresters to pass a law 

 permitting the legal cutting of timber 

 on the State lands. No wonder the 

 people were alarmed. If the timber 

 thieves could operate so boldly without 

 this law, what would happen when the 

 last barrier was removed? 



The earlier law of '85 had contained 

 a clause which read ' ' The lands now or 

 hereafter constituting the Forest Pre- 

 serve shall be forever kept as wild 

 lands. They shall not be sold, nor shall 

 they be leased or taken by any person 

 or corporation, public or private." 

 This clause, which so well set forth the 

 policy of perpetual ownership, was now 

 presented as a constitutional amend- 

 ment, with a slight change and a signifi- 

 cant addition, so that it read "They 

 shall not be leased, sold or exchanged, 

 or be taken by any corporation, public 

 or private, nor shall the timber thereon be 

 sold, removed or destroyed.' ' This amend- 

 ment was overwhelmingly adopted. 

 Its effect was far more drastic than was 

 intended, for it has interfered with the 



construction of roads and trails, pre- 

 vented the disposal of fire killed timber, 

 and impeded the development of the 

 Preserve for recreation. 



Meanwhile, the State committed a 

 serious blunder by combining the func- 

 tions of the Fish and Game Commission 

 with the forestry work, in 1895. In 

 1899, Colonel Fox in a private conversa- 

 tion stated "The chief difficulty is that 

 the Commissioners are not interested 

 in forestry. You can't get them to 

 give any attention to the question; but 

 if a man comes along who wants to 

 know whether he must fish through the 

 ice with a string held in the hand or can 

 tie it to a tip-up, they will go into 

 executive session at once!" This con- 

 dition was later improved by the adop- 

 tion of a policy constantly urged by 

 Colonel Fox, of employing technicallv 

 educated foresters. New York in 1900 

 hirnd R. C. Bryant, the first graduate of 

 the Cornell Forest School. Later two 

 more Cornell men were employed, one of 

 whom, Clifford R. Pettis, engaged in 

 1902, has been in the State Forestry 

 Service ever since, and in 1910 was 

 made Superintendent of Forests. The 

 principles of civil service have been 

 applied rigidly to the small force of 

 State Foresters whose numbers have 

 never exceeded seven. The restdt is 

 that in spite of the frequent changes not 

 only in the personnel but in the form 

 of the Commission, there has been a 

 continuity and efficiency in the work 

 which is the direct result of this trained 

 executive force of foresters. New 

 York State forest nurseries have a 

 national reputation, and her forest 

 plantations are among the best. 



But aside from the dangers of defec- 

 tive titles and trespass, fires threatened 

 to completely destroy the Adirondack 

 wilderness. An inefficient system, of 

 town wardens failed to cope with this 

 danger. In 1909, Commissioner 

 Whipple secured the adoption of modern 

 methods, already successful in New 

 England and the far West, and estab- 

 lished a paid force of lookout watchmei; 

 whose towers now o\'erlook and trian- 

 gulate practically the entire forested 

 area of the Preserve Counties. These 

 supplemented by patrolmen and fire 

 wardens, began to cope successfully 



