320 



ARBORICULTURE. 



All delegates shall be provided with creden- 

 tials from the authority whom they represent. 



In order that said convention may have a 

 definite plan of procedure, I do hereby appoint 

 the following Senators and Representatives of 

 the States to be represented as a committee on 

 program, authorized to prepare a program and 

 to outline in a general way the matters and 

 questions upon which discussion may be had 

 at said convention : 



111 the announcement signed by the 

 Secretary, we find the followhig items: 



A sentiment has been developed in the East- 

 ern States that would deny the existence of any 

 State interest, either legal or moral, in the dis- 

 position of these lands. The new policies being 

 urged seek to establish the permanent owner- 

 ship of these lands in the General Government, 

 and would prevent their development and set- 

 tlement by individuals, and encourage their oc- 

 cupation by the General Government for the 

 purpose of producing revenue for the Govern- 

 ment. 



The Western States have been formed out 

 of these public lands, and admitted into the 

 Union, with all the rights and privileges of the 

 older States. All of the older States were built 

 through the settlement of public lands by citi- 

 zens. Having thus grown in wealth and pop- 

 ulation, it is now proposed to deprive us of the 

 rights they enjoyed, and to utilize the lands for 

 procuring revenue for the benefit of the nation 

 at large. Having eaten their pie, they would 

 also share ours. 



Homeseekers are pouring into the West, 

 anxious to secure homes and become citizens 

 of the newer States. While there are still vast 

 areas to be settled, new governmental policies 

 regarding these lands are so hindering the 

 homesteader that it is becoming more and more 

 difficult for the settler to find a location where 

 he may be permitted to Iniild iTJm a home. It 

 may be that the laws require amendment, but 

 the amendment should be in the direction of a 

 more liberal policy toward the homeseeker. 



FAI^SE CLAIMS PRESENTED. 



The comparatively small areas of for- 

 est lands still possessed by the Govern- 

 ment are, for the most part, on moun- 

 tain tracts which are the source of our 

 greatest rivers, and are held principally 



to prevent the disasters attending the re- 

 moval of timbers from such tracts. 



The Rocky Mountain ranges, in 

 which many of these reserves are sit- 

 uated, are not agricultural in character, 

 although some are pastoral. 



When the Government parts with 

 these tracts of forest, and speculating 

 corporations and cattle barons obtain 

 possession, the timber will quickly be 

 cleared, and the entire nation will be se- 

 verely punished thereby. 



CONVENTION PACKED BY COLORADO. 



It will be noted in the list of delegates 

 appointed by Acting Governor Harper 

 that several of the most prominent and 

 persistent opponents of forest reserves 

 have been chosen. 



It will also be seen that in providing 

 for delegates to this convention, all real 

 estate speculating bodies may send five 

 delegates. 



Stock growers and lumbermen or- 

 gam'zations may also appoint five dele- 

 gates, while forestry and irrigation or- 

 ganizations which are remarkably few 

 in number may send five delegates. 



Thus in the make-up there was a 

 thousand to> one of the members favor- 

 able to the extermination of the forests. 



The entire nation is an interested 

 party to the perpetuation of our remain- 

 ing forests, while each locality in the 

 immediate vicinit}- of a forest reserve 

 demands the abolition of all restriction 

 to the free chopping of timber on the 

 public dominion. 



The . public-spirited citizens of the 

 United States who believe that Congress 

 should retain all remaining forest lands 

 should make their demands so forcible 

 as tO' overcome the evils of this proposed 

 raid upon the reserves. 



MoNFORT & Co.. Cincinnati. O 



