SAMUELT.DANA 27 



terference, and by alteram we are to understand not only the citizen of 

 the present, but of the future as well." 



Exercise of the providential function of government through the 

 retention of public lands in public ownership started with the estab- 

 lishment of national parks, four of which preceded the first forest 

 reserves (renamed national forests in 1907). These were Hot Springs 

 in 1832, Yellowstone in 1872, and Yosemite, General Grant, and 

 Sequoia in 1890. Since the turn of the century the system has been 

 greatly enlarged and substantial reservations have been made of min- 

 eral lands and water-power sites. Recognition of both aesthetic and 

 material values has long characterized the attitude of government 

 toward its public lands. 



The future of unreserved lands still remaining in the public domain 

 is not yet clear. The Taylor Grazing Act of 1934, it must be remem- 

 bered, merely authorized the establishment of grazing districts on 

 public land "pending its final disposal." No further action has been 

 taken by Congress, and the grazing districts are still officially classi- 

 fied as unreserved public domain. In addition, there are nearly 19 

 million acres of land in the unreserved pubUc domain outside of graz- 

 ing districts which are leased for grazing and more than 5 million 

 acres of commercial forest land, the future of which is at best un- 

 certain. 



The apparently widespread belief that the first reserves of federal 

 land were "locked up," and that "multiple use" is a concept of recent 

 development, is hardly in accordance with the facts. Secretary of Agri- 

 culture James Wilson's letter of instructions to Pinchot in 1905, when 

 the forest reserves were transferred from the Department of the In- 

 terior to the Department of Agriculture, was emphatic on these points : 



All of the resources of the reserves are for use [italics are in the 

 original], and this use must be brought about in a thoroughly 

 prompt and businesslike manner, under such conditions only as will 

 insure the permanence of these resources. The vital importance of 

 forest reserves to the great industries of the Western States will be 

 largely increased in the near future by the continued steady increase 

 in settlement and development. The permanence of the resources of 

 the reserves is therefore indispensable to continued prosperity, and 

 the policy of this department for their protection and use will in- 

 variably be guided by this fact, always bearing in mind that the 



