28 THE VALUE AND MANAGEMENT OF [May 



little as to the quantity of such lands or the quality of the timber 

 growing upon them, we can only say, and this we can say with all 

 confidence, that the estimated 84,000,000 acres of timber land still 

 belonging to the Government must have a large commercial value. 



As to the marketable value of the Government timber lands, 

 while a portion of such lands, on account of present inaccessibility 

 or distance from settlements or important commercial points, may 

 have but little value, much of those lands are saleable, and would 

 be in greater demand than they are were it not for the fact that 

 forest fires render such property hazardous, and that unscrupulous 

 persons find it cheaper to steal timber than to buy it. The very 

 fact also of the plundering of tlie Government timber lands proves, 

 wdierever it occurs, that the timber on such lands has a present 

 market value. Men do not steal what has no value. Even the 

 slight care which the Government has extended to its forests has 

 resulted in the discovery that they have been plundered to the 

 extent of several millions of dollars' worth of timber. 



As to the management of the Government timber lands, clearly 

 there should , be a change from the course hitherto pursued. It 

 would seem to be the plainest dictate of common sense that the 

 Government should recognise the fact that in its timber lands it 

 has a valuable property besides the lands themselves, and that as a 

 wise proprietor it should care for and protect that property and use 

 it for its own highest advantage. Like a wise property-holder, it 

 should first of all take an account of stock, ascertain how much of 

 this forest property it has, and how much it is worth. At present 

 the Government does not know, except in a very indefinite way, 

 where or what its timber lands are. It does not know how dense 

 its forests are, of what kind of trees composed, how situated, how 

 valuable for one use or another. The first thing a private person 

 claiming to own this property would do, would be to refuse to sell 

 any of it until he had carefully examined it, and, having thus 

 ascertained its adaptation for various uses, had been able to form an 

 intelligent decision as to its most advantageous disposal. Why 

 should not the United States Government act in a similar way ? 

 Why should it not suspend the sale of its timber lands until it can 

 make an accurate survey of them and ascertain their character and 

 situation, and their value for one purpose or another ? 



Having done this, such of its timber lands as it would be desir- 

 able to have preserved in a forest state, for climatic reasons or on 

 account of the favourable influence which they would exert upon 

 the flow of rivers and streams, should continue to be withheld from 

 sale, the timber growing thereon alone being sold, and that only by 

 selection of the full-grown trees from time to time, and not all at 



