REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. 41 



of Oregon. These exchanges always are made on the basis of equal 

 value and are greatly to the interest of the Government for the per- 

 manent development of the National property. The department 

 for several years has been working with a number of the Western 

 States to effect a consolidation, by exchange, of school lands scattered 

 through the Forests. In South Dakota the exchange has been par- 

 tially completed, while in Idaho and Montana all the details have 

 been agreed upon. Congress appropriated special funds for this 

 work in Montana and Washington. Further authority is required 

 to clear away certain legal difficulties and to permit final action. It 

 is hoped that the measure now before Congress to secure this end 

 will be approved. 



PROGRESS IN ADMINISTRATION. 



The progress made last year, both in new legislation and in the 

 actual work of administering the Forests, is simply a continuation 

 of the advance which has characterized each successive recent year. 

 The public investment in its Forest work has become greater through 

 reforestation, extensive additions to the permanent improvements, 

 betterment of forest and range conditions resulting from the applica- 

 tion of sound methods of management, and, perhaps most important 

 of all, great progress toward final determination of the areas to 

 be permanently held by the Government. Boundary rectifications 

 since March 4, 1913, have eliminated from the Forests a total of 

 11,028,114 acres. The permanent retention of these areas was found 

 to be undesirable either because of their character or because the 

 Government holdings were too scattered for economical and effi- 

 cient management. In the same period more than 886,000 acres have 

 been opened to settlement under the Forest Homestead Act. 



UNWISE LEGISLATION. 



Millions of dollars, appropriated by Congress for the improve- 

 ment, 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 justifi- 

 able. Abandonment 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 various kinds, 

 which, if adopted, seriously would injure or even render ineffective 



