28 FORESTRY ALMANAC 



charged with the purchase of such areas on the headwaters of 

 navigable streams. The measure also provided for cooperative fire 

 protection with the states carrying on protective work. 



The years succeeding were not marked by any significant legis- 

 lation. It was primarily a period of fluctuating appropriations, 

 affected first by the European War and then by America's partici- 

 pation in the war. At the same time it was a period of mobilizing 

 public sentiment on the forestry question and of development in the 

 fields of technical forestry. 



This process has resulted in signalizing the years 1921 to 1924 

 by the concerted demand for national legislation setting forth a 

 national forest policy. This demand was embodied in the Snell Bill, 

 introduced in Congress on April n, 1921; the Capper Bill, intro- 

 duced May 2, 1921, and the McNary-Clarke Bill, introduced as a 

 result of the extended hearings of the special Reforestation Committee 

 of the Senate on December 25, 1923. 



The Snell and Capper Bills represent two different schools of 

 thought in relation to the forest policy, and there was a measure of 

 disagreement among foresters as to the merits of the Snell Bill. 

 This measure involved the principle of federal cooperation with 

 the states in forestry work. It provided $1,000,000 for cooper- 

 ative fire protection; $3,000,000 for a cooperative survey of forest 

 resources and their adaptability to conditions ; $1,000,000 for research 

 and experimentation; $1,000,000 for nursery and reforestation work 

 in the National Forests ; $50,000,000 to be available for carrying out 

 the provisions of the Weeks Law. It also contemplated extension of 

 the authority of the National Forest Reservation Commission to 

 include acquisition of land chiefly valuable for forest production, pro- 

 vided for the exchanges of land for National Forests and extended 

 the possibilities of bringing publicly-owned areas supporting timber 

 under the Forest Service administration. The Snell Bill was argued 

 before Congress in 1921 and 1922 but failed of passage in any of its 

 essential features. 



The support of the Capper Bill, still pending before Congress, 

 is led by Gifford Pinchot, former Chief Forester of the United States 

 and Governor of Pennsylvania. This measure embodies the principles 

 of regulation of cutting on all public and private forests. It would 

 apply to the United States methods of administration similar to those 



