750 



NATIONAL FOREST ENTERPRISES 



advise neither course until some state or Government 

 official has had a chance to examine the locahty and make 

 recommendations according to the circumstances. 



Questions regarding the efficiency of spraying diseased 

 trees are often asked. Spraying is inefficient and is not 



recommended under any circumstances as a means of con- 

 trol of disease. Spraying of currants and gooseberries 

 might be resorted to in exceptional cases for the purpose 

 of holding the disease in check until further action which 

 may be pending can be decided. 



The National Forest Enterprises' 



By Honor.\ble Da\id Houston 

 Secretary of Aijriciihnre 



THE value of the national forests to the public and 

 the use made of them increased steadily. Their 

 returns to the Treasury last year, exceeding 

 $2,800,000— an advance of more than $340,000 over the 

 previous year — are only a partial indication of their 

 service. An augmented volume of business, due to a 

 larger number of timber purchasers, and a net addition 

 of nearly three-fourths of a million to the number of 

 stock grazed, together with a decided stimulus in pros- 

 pecting and mining activities and in the use of the forests 

 for recreation and health, are further indications of 

 broadening development. 



Through successful administration the permanence 

 of the national forests is becoming more and more assured. 

 They are now a vital part of the economic life of the 

 regions which use their resources. It is increasingly clear 

 that national supervision and control of them is necessary 

 and that they could not be abandoned without disastrous 

 consequences to western industries and to local welfare. 



Road Development in Forests 

 The need for more ample provision for road develop- 

 ment in the national forests was emphasized in my reports 

 of the last two years. At the last session of Congress 

 this urgent need received recognition through the enact- 

 ment of the Federal Aid Road Act. This legislation con- 

 stitutes one of the most important and far-reaching steps 

 in national forest development which has been taken for a 

 long time. 



Eastern Forests 

 By making provision for the continued purchase of 

 forest lands in the East, Congress once more has recog- 

 nized the permanence of the national forest policy. Three 

 million dollars, expendable during the fiscal years 1917 

 and 1918, has been made available for this work. The 

 purchase of lands in the Appalachian and White Moun- 

 tains, with a view primarily to the control of stream flow 

 affecting the navigability of rivers, began in 1911. Under 

 the provisions of the Weeks Forestry Act there have been 

 approved for purchase 1,396,367 acres, at an average cost 

 of $5.22 per acre. The lands are in excellent condition 

 and have been secured at very reasonable prices. These 

 newly established forests already are rendering important 

 public service and are being used extensively. There is a 

 marked demand for the timber upon them. The timber 



* From the annual report of the Secretary of Agriculture to 

 Congress. 



is cut in accordance with sound forestry practice. The 

 White Mountain forest in a short time should return 

 to the Government as nuich as it costs to protect and 

 administer it. 



Unwise Legislation 



Millions of dollars, appropriated by Congress for the 

 improvement, development and consolidation of the forest 

 holdings, have gone into the properties. Only on the 

 assumption that the forests are to be permanent would 

 expenditures of this character be justifiable. Abandon- 

 ment of the work after it has been carried to its present 

 point would be a stultifying course. Nevertheless, repeated 

 efforts in this direction still are made. Measures of 

 \arious kinds, which, if adopted, seriously would injure 

 or e\en render ineffective the whole national-forest enter- 

 prise, are urged. The proposal that the properties be 

 turned o\ er in their entirety to the several states has a 

 waning support and no longer needs to be taken seriously. 

 On the other hand, efforts frequently are made to secure 

 the abolition of individual forests. Proposals to do away 

 with the forests in Alaska still find strong advocates. As 

 pointed out in my last report, such action would be unwise 

 and unfortunate. Action of this sort, however, can be 

 met squarely on its merits, for the question of abolishing 

 a national forest raises a clear-cut issue which the public 

 cannot misunderstand. 



A more serious danger to the national-forest system 

 lies in the repeated efforts to open them to the action of 

 some general land grant or to the laws applicable to the 

 unreserved public domain. Each year there are introduced 

 in Congress numerous proposals designed to open the 

 forests, or portions of them, to private acquisition or to 

 disposition of one kind or another. One measure of this 

 character jjassed both Houses of Congress during the last 

 session and failed to become law only through the presi- 

 dential veto. It proposed to open the forests to the 

 acquisition of lands by any incorporated city or town for 

 park and cemetery purposes and to counties for park pur- 

 poses. Every public purpose of the proposed measure can 

 be realized under existing law. So serious would be the 

 effect of such a measure that, if enacted, undoubtedly it 

 would be necessary within a few years actually to abandon 

 a number of important forests. In his veto message, after 

 explaining that the measure was entirely unnecessary 

 and would have unfortunate public consequences, the 

 President said: 



