NOTES AND COMMENTS 679 



million dollars at the disposal of the shipping board will be spent in 

 building wooden ships. 



Of the many National Park bills, only one, a meritorious one, was 

 passed by Congress, namely, that creating the Mount AIcKinley Na- 

 tional Park in Alaska, which sets aside the highest peak in America. 

 The Grand Canyon National Park bill failed with the rest, but a 

 decision by the court of appeals of the District of Columbia, after 

 several years of litigation, has established the right of the Secretary 

 of the Interior to disallow mining claims in the canyon, which in 1908 

 was declared a National ^lonument. The decision secures the abso- 

 lute control of the canyon, without its being made a National Park. 



The U. S. Treasury Department has recently rendered a decision, 

 confirming an earlier finding, that Japanese oak lumber is dutiable 

 as a cabinet wood. Japanese oak first made its appearance on the 

 Pacific Coast about 1904, and its use so increased that until the lack 

 of vessels prevented its importation, it represented approximately 90 

 per cent of all the oak used on the Pacific Coast. While much of the 

 earlier shipments were in the form of hewed logs, there later de- 

 veloped a trade in kiln-dried, tongued-and-grooved, end-matched, 

 hollow-backed flooring. The importers are fighting this decision, since 

 the duty on lumber imported since the decision was first rendered is 

 about $85,000. The case will be appealed to the board of general 

 appraisers of Los Angeles and will be passed upon some time during 

 the month of May. — Timberman, April, 1917. 



The Loup Division and the Halsey Nursery of the Nebraska 

 National Forest have been renamed in honor of the late Dr. Charles 

 E. Bessey, to express appreciation for his w^ork in securing these 

 Federal developments. A si.iMlar honor is to be done the late J. 

 Sterling Morton, by naming the Niobrara Division after him. 



An addition of approximately 50,000 acres was made to the Whit- 

 man National Forest, Oregon, by act of Congress. The lands con- 

 sisted in part of cancelled fraudulent entries and cut-over lands. The 

 act also provides for exchange of Government timber in the Whitman 

 Forest for private holdings. 



The National Forest Reservation Commission has authorized addi- 

 tional purchases of 11,116 acres in the White Mountains, and 21.150 



