OUR NATIONAL FORESTS 113 



these laws Hampered rather than advanced development and 

 actually resulted in making timber theft the most practical way 

 of utilizing the western timber lands. 



So it came about in 1895 the National Academy of Science, 

 which at that time held the place of scientific advisor to the 

 Government, investigated the forest situation and suggested a 

 more rational policy for the forested public lands of the United 

 States. Already the nation possessed about twenty million acres 

 of forest reserves that had been set aside from time to time, 

 but there existed neither funds nor machinery to protect them 

 from fire and hardly any police powers were exercised to pro- 

 tect them from theft. The public was being plundered yearly 

 by both fire and trespass. After an investigation the committee 

 recommended to Congress the creation of a Forestry Bureau, 

 an agency to take adequate care of the public reserves. It also 

 suggested the immediate addition of twenty million acres more 

 of Federal forests and a further examination of our public 

 lands with a view to deciding what land should be placed in 

 future reserves. Ultimately after long delay and many a bitter 

 fight all of these provisions were carried out and today we 

 have not only a system of National Forests that dot the country 

 from Maine to Florida and from the State of Washington to 

 the Mexican line, but we have also a Federal Forest Service in 

 control of them a body of trained foresters that includes many 

 of the leaders in the profession of forestry. First known as 

 Forest Reserves, the name was changed in 1900 to National 

 Forests to better emphasize the fact that the resources within 

 their boundaries are not reserved, but are being put to use. 



The struggle to get and to hold these timber lands against 

 predatory interests that regard public resources as fair loot 



