News and Notes. 449 



Private instead of public ownership and control of the National 

 forest resources is the real object of the powerful interests advo- 

 cating the transfer to the states. The National Forests are the 

 property of the nation and are of vast importance and great value 

 from the national point of view. They should not be transferred 

 to the states unless it can be shown that the public interest will 

 thus be better subserved than at present. The argument that 

 Eastern states have owned and misused the forests within their 

 boundaries and the same privilege should be granted the Western 

 States is not entitled to consideration. In the east, the National 

 Government is now spending large sums for the purchase of for- 

 est lands, to repair the mistakes of the past and thus to protect 

 watersheds of national importance. Irrigation in the west, and 

 navigation and power generally, are at stake, and these are na- 

 tional problems. The question of preventing monopolistic con- 

 trol of timber resources is also of national, rather than merely 

 state importance. The expense of protecting and administering 

 the National Forests is about $4,000,000 per year. On account 

 of their location, income from the National Forests will not equal 

 expenditure for probably several years. The individual states 

 can not be expected to bear the burden of extra cost as can the 

 Federal Government, or to proceed as efficiently with the great 

 work of reforestation, and the construction of roads, trails, tele- 

 phones and other permanent improvements. On the other hand, 

 the states now receive 35 per cent, of the gross revenue in lieu of 

 taxes, so that they are in a distinctly advantageous situation so 

 far as finances are concerned. The conclusion is that every one 

 except those directly interested in profiting thereby has all to lose 

 and nothing to gain by a transfer from nation to state. 



The veto by Governor Tener of the bill carrying a $100,000 ap- 

 propriation for the maintenance of the Pennsylvania Chestnut 

 Tree Blight Commission brings to an end an interesting campaign 

 which has been waged for the last two years. The veto by the 

 Governor was on the recommendation of the Commission, that the 

 amount named was not sufficient to accomplish definite results. 

 In other words, it appears that the extensive work under the 

 $250,000 appropriation served mostly to emphasize the immen- 

 sity, if not the hopelessness of the task. During the two years in 



