66 



for -Wirnt oi rniu to au exteut that was not so coiumoii in olden times; 

 and we do know that where these changes have occurred, the country 

 has been stripped of its timber, and its fountains, springs, and streams 

 laid bare to the broiling sun and unbroken winds. These facts, put 

 together, exhibit a practical cause and effect with an apparent force of 

 truth which should command our attention, and induce the inquiry 

 whether the Government may not interpose its power and influence to 

 protect the timber-lauds of the country. There are yet thousands of mil- 

 lions of acres of public lands undisposed of, and, as to them, I beg leave 

 to suggest that, from this time forth, no disposition shall be made of them 

 for any purpose or for any consideration, pecuniary or otherwise, with- 

 out a provision imposing a condition, to be inserted in the warrant or 

 patent, as the case may be, that the grantee shall keep at least ten per 

 cent, of the lands so granted in timber, if there be so much, and, if not,, 

 that he shall be allowed a credit of twenty per cent, of his purchase- 

 money as an inducement to plant so much of his land in timber ; and to 

 insure the performance of the condition, a failure on the part of the 

 purchaser should work a forfeiture of his title. Let us imagine the 

 millions of acres of Government lands yet to be surveyed and disposed 

 of in sections of six hundred and forty acres, and these divided into 

 one hundred and sixty acre farms, and each having sixteen acres of 

 woodland so disposed as to afford a shelter to the orchards and growing 

 crops, and the whole system working its wonderful influence upon the 

 streams, the climate, and everything that grows upon the earth. 



While I look at this subject only in an agricultural point of view, 

 there is another in which the nation should look upon it as extremely 

 important — the annual consumption. 



The dwellings of twenty millions of people here are chiefly made of 

 wood; the out-buildings are almost entirely built of wood; the fencing, 

 which costs actually more than all the buildings, is of wood; and all 

 these are being continually consumed by time. Eailroads consume 

 timber immensely. It has been estimated that each day in the year 

 trains run about three hundred and twenty thousand miles, consum- 

 ing one and a half cords of wood for every twenty-five miles, making a 

 daily consumption of nineteen thousand two hundred cords. Sixty thou- 

 sand miles of road require two thousand five hundred ties to the mile; 

 and assuming their life to be five years, an annual consumption of 

 thirty millions of ties is required ; and it may be safely said that the 

 waste in getting out ties is one-third of the tree. Add to this the fencing 

 of these roads, the half million of telegraph-poles which each year will 

 be required, and the vast amount of destruction of forests by flood and 

 fire, and we must be startled into the conviction that we must not only 

 make an effort to stay the hand of ruthless destruction, but we must 

 make an effort to restore that which has already been destroyed. Where 

 land sold by the Government has no timber upon it, I would not only 

 abate the purchase-money to induce planting timber, but I would ex- 

 onerate the land from the payment of taxes for a certain number of 

 years. Doubtless, there is no State or Territory which would not gladly 

 co-operate with the General Government in any measure which con- 

 duces to so much good. 



Would the insertion of this proposed condition impede the sale or 

 retard the settlement of the public lands ? In other words, would it be 

 objectionable in the view of the settler or purchaser"? It can scarcely 

 be supposed that any one inclined to make a home in a new country 

 w^ould fail to foresee the immense advantages that would accrue to an 

 entire community of farmers by the protection which would beaflbrded to 



