842 JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



of the Indians probably was "hot a rare attribute pecuHar to some one 

 Bureau alone." This subtle sarcasm was evidently directed toward the 

 Bureau with which I have the honor of being officially connected. Super- 

 ficially considered the suggestion of the competency of the Forest 

 Service to assume the role of guardian of the interests of the Indian 

 may seem incontrovertible. But careful consideration will, I believe, 

 reveal the weakness of such a position. Gentlemen, there is such a 

 thing as habit of thought. "How use doth breed a habit in a man." 

 Foresters are trained to a certain habit of thought. I do not decry it. 

 It is a great possession. Yet he would be a bold man who would deny 

 that this most praiseworthy habit may impose limitations on one's 

 capacity to perceive promptly all phases of a complex question. The 

 Indian problem is a complex one — one of the most perplexing ones 

 with which our National Government has to deal. There are many 

 problems connected with the educational, social, and industrial uplift 

 of this race yet unsolved. The administration of their property inter- 

 ests is inseparably intertwined with the other phases of Indian admin- 

 istration. That Congress should direct that millions of acres of land be 

 taken from the reservations without consideration of the grazing and 

 other interests of the Indians seems to some of us a debatable question. 

 Any view that the only interest involved is a public interest is erroneous. 

 Any assumption that the representatives of a Bureau whose function 

 has been for years, and now is, the administration of public timberlands 

 is as well qualified to interpret the desires and determine the needs of 

 the Indians as the Bureau that has been in intimate touch with the 

 Indian problem for seventy years is open to attack. Does the man that 

 has normally thought in terms of science put on easily the cloak of the 

 literary critic? Does he that has habitually trained his mind in the 

 theories of one political school, easily assimilate the fundamental con- 

 cepts and convictions of the opposing party? Purity of purpose is not 

 the only test of proficiency. 



I am not a veteran in the Indian Service, yet I have personal!)- known 

 of several instances in which officials of the Forest Service have ex- 

 hibited either a non-sympathetic attitude or a lack of capacity to under- 

 stand the viewpoint of the Indian. This is not remarkable. These men 

 are trained in the care of public lands. There seems an almost ineradi- 

 cable disposition on the part of representatives of the Forest Service to 

 consider unallotted Indian lands as public lands. The highest legal 

 authority announced many years ago that the title to Indian unallotted 



