606 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. [Vol. 43 



One of the most remarkable lines of development with which the 

 Secretar^^'s administration was identified was in relation to forestry. 

 At the beginning of his term, forestry in this country was still in 

 the dark ages. Its general practice seemed exceedingly^ remote. 

 Wasteful destruction of a great primary resource went on unchecked. 

 Forestry was largely a sentiment and not a reality, and there was 

 small conception of its intimate relation to public welfare so soon 

 to develop. There were less than ten professional foresters in the 

 whole United States. Neither a science nor a literature of American 

 forestry was in existence, nor could an education in the subject be 

 secured in this country. The forest reserves totaled nearly forty 

 million acres, but there was no provision for their use and there was 

 insistent demand that they be returned to the public domain. 



The key to the situation was supplied when the practice of forest 

 conservation was shown to involve not barriers against utilization, 

 isut the development of these resources through wisely regulated use. 

 Such regulated use of National Forest resources, and the measures 

 inaugurated by the Department in executing this policy, provided 

 the main foundation on which rests the present system of administer- 

 ing the forests for the benefit and profit of the country. As a result of 

 the working out and putting into successful operation of a definite 

 forest policy, ojjposition was quieted, the area of National Forests 

 was increased to over 185,000,000 acres by June, 1912, and these vast 

 tracts had become not a burden but a source of national wealth-. It 

 has been well said that " as a great constructive accomplishment, the 

 National Forests and the administrative system under which they are 

 made to serve their rightful part in our national economy deserve to 

 rank and will rank among the notable triumphs of this generation." 



The period of Secretary Wilson's administration, was notable for 

 the passage by Congress of a number of important and far-reaching 

 measures designed for the protection of the health and welfare of the 

 people of the country. These measures were the culmination of in- 

 vestigation and efforts of the Department which exposed conditions 

 requiring legislation and provided publicity for the development 

 of support for such action. 



The long continued efforts to secure a national pure food law re- 

 sulted in 1906 in the passage of the Food and Drugs Act, which with 

 the organization of means for its enforcement comprised one of the 

 large constructive measures of the administration. The Meat In- 

 spection Law of 1906 followed the Department's labors for years to 

 secure the enactment of a law which would authorize rigid inspection 

 of all meat and meat food products intended for interstate and| 

 foreign commerce. This act, with a permanent annual appropriation 

 of three million dollars, enabled the safeguarding of this class of] 



