EDITORIAL COMMENT 



Hands Off the National Forests 



There is every reason against, and none in favor of, the various 

 bills now before Congress proposing to transfer the National Forests 

 to the Interior Department. Tvi^o of these bills — the Cummins and the 

 New bills— affect only the National Forests of Alaska. A third bill, 

 introduced by Senator King of Utah, proposes to transfer all the 

 National Forests to that Department. The friends of forestry must 

 be up and doing lest quiescence should be mistaken for assent or lest 

 public apathy be taken advantage of by interests unfriendly to 

 conservation. 



It is significant that none of these bills has come to life under the 

 auspices of the known and trusted friends of forestry. It is safe to say 

 that the foresters of America will solidly unite against these measures. 

 Besides this body of specialists who know the subject thoroughly, there 

 is a vast mass of public opinion that will resent any tampering with a 

 tried and tested institution. 



It is possible that attempts will be made to allay public apprehension 

 as to the real motives of these measures by representing them as a step 

 in the reorganization of the government departments. Towards a 

 sound, scientific reorganization every good citizen will show only 

 approval ; but there will be no patience with amateur or devious tarn- 

 Forestry is one of the great branches of agriculture, as was properly 

 and, let us hope, finally recognized in 1905, when the National Forests 

 were transferred from the Interior Department, on its own confession 

 of inability to handle them, to the Department of Agriculture. To 

 transfer them back again now would be not reorganization, but folly. 



The National Forests are engaged primarily in growing timber, and 

 they grow timber by means analogous to those used in growing farm 

 crops. The National Forests are living organisms capable of con- 

 tinuous growth and production, and they should be kept so. Forestry, 

 being an agricultural enterprise, needs the scientific outlook, the scientific 

 equipment, and the great tradition of productive scientific effort so 

 admirably embodied in the Department of Agriculture. 

 946 



