CONGRESS. (THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.) 



145 



life-blood of this nation flows. Nothing could be 

 more foolish than the enactment of legislation 

 which would unnecessarily interfere with the de- 

 velopment and operation of these commercial 

 agencies. The subject is one of great importance 

 and calls for the earnest attention of the Con- 

 gress. 



The Department of Agriculture during the past 

 fifteen years has steadily broadened its work 

 on economic lines, and has accomplished results 

 of real value in upbuilding domestic and foreign 

 trade. It has gone into new fields until it is now 

 in touch with all sections of our country and 

 with two of the island groups that have lately 

 come under our jurisdiction, whose people must 

 look to agriculture as a livelihood. It is search- 

 ing the world for grains, grasses, fruits, and vege- 

 tables specially fitted for introduction into locali- 

 ties in the several States and Territories where 

 they may add materially to our resources. By 

 scientific attention to soil survey and possible new 

 crops, to breeding of new varieties of plants, to 

 experimental shipments, to animal industry and 

 applied chemistry, very practical aid has been 



fiven our farming and stock-growing interests, 

 he products of the farm have taken an unprece- 

 dented place in our export trade during the year 

 that has just closed. 



Public opinion throughout the United States 

 has moved steadily toward a just appreciation 

 of the value of forests, whether planted or of 

 natural growth. The great part played by them 

 in the creation and maintenance of the national 

 wealth is now more fully realized than ever 

 before. 



Wise forest protection does not mean the with- 

 drawal of forest resources, whether of wood, wa- 

 ter, or grass, from contributing their full share 

 to the welfare of the people, but, on the contrary, 

 gives the assurance of larger and more certain 

 supplies. The fundamental idea of forestry is 

 the perpetuation of forests by use. Forest pro- 

 tection is not an end of itself; it is a means to in- 

 crease and sustain the resources of our country 

 and the industries which depend upon them. The 

 preservation of our forests is an imperative busi- 

 ness necessity. We have come to see clearly that 

 whatever destroys the forest, except to make way 

 for agriculture, threatens our well-being. 



The practical usefulness of the national forest 

 reserves to the mining, grazing, irrigation, and 

 other interests of the regions in which the re- 

 serves lie has led to a wide-spread demand by the 

 people of the West for their protection and exten- 

 sion. >. The forest reserves will inevitably be of 

 still greater use in the future than in the past. 

 Additions should be made to them whenever 

 practicable, and their usefulness should be in- 

 creased by a thoroughly business-like manage- 

 ment. 



At present the protection of the forest reserves 

 rests with the General Land Office, the mapping 

 and description of their timber with the United 

 States Geological Survey, and the preparation of 

 plans for their conservative use with the Bureau 

 of Forestry, which is also charged with the gen- 

 eral advancement of practical forestry in the 

 United States. These various functions should 

 be united in the Bureau of Forestry, to which 

 they properly belong. The present diffusion of 

 responsibility is bad from every standpoint. It 

 prevents that effective cooperation between the 

 Government and the men who \itilize the re- 

 sources of the reserves, without which the inter- 

 ests of both must suffer. The scientific bureaus 

 generally should be put under the Department of 

 Agriculture. The President should have by law 

 VOL. XLII. 10 A 



the power of transferring lands for use as forest 

 reserves to the Department of Agriculture. He 

 already has such power in the case of land* 

 needed by the Departments of War and the 

 Navy. 



The wise administration of the forest reserves 

 will be not less helpful to the interests which de- 

 pend on water than to those which depend on 

 wood and grass. The water-supply itself depends 

 upon the forest. In the arid region it is water, 

 not land, which measures production. The west- 

 ern half of the United States would sustain a 

 population greater than that of our whole coun- 

 try to-day if the waters that now run to waste 

 were saved and used for irrigation. The forest 

 and water problems are perhaps the most vital 

 internal questions of the United States. 



Certain of the forest reserves should also be 

 made preserves for the wild forest creatures. All 

 of the reserves should be better protected from 

 fires. -Many of them need special protection be- 

 cause of the great injury done by live stock, 

 above all by sheep. The increase in deer, elk, 

 and other animals in the Yellowstone Park 

 shows what may be expected when other moun- 

 tain forests are properly protected by law and 

 properly guarded. Some of these areas have 

 been so denuded of surface vegetation by over- 

 grazing that the ground-breeding birds, includ- 

 ing grouse and quail, and many mammals, in- 

 cluding deer, have been exterminated or driven 

 away. At the same time the water-storing ca- 

 pacity of the surface has been decreased or de- 

 stroyed, thus promoting floods in times of rain 

 and diminishing the flow of streams between 

 rains. 



In cases where natural conditions have been 

 restored for a few years, vegetation has again 

 carpeted the ground, birds and deer are coming 

 back, and hundreds of persons, especially from 

 the immediate neighborhood, come each summer 

 to enjoy the privilege of camping. Some at least 

 of the forest reserves should afford perpetual pro- 

 tection to the native fauna and flora, safe havens 

 of refuge to our rapidly diminishing wild animals 

 of the larger kinds, and free camping-grounds for 

 the ever-increasing numbers of men and women 

 who have learned to find rest, health, and recre- 

 ation in the splendid forests and flower-clad 

 meadows of our mountains. The forest reserves 

 should be set apart forever for the use and bene- 

 fit of our people as a whole and not sacrificed 

 to the short-sighted greed of a few. 



The forests are natural reservoirs. By restrain- 

 ing the streams in flood and replenishing them 

 in drought they make possible the use of waters 

 otherwise wasted. They prevent the soil from 

 washing, and so protect the storage-reservoirs 

 from filling up with silt. Forest conservation is 

 therefore an essential condition of water con- 

 servation. 



The forests alone can not, however, fully regu- 

 late and conserve the waters of the arid region. 

 Great storage-works are necessary to equalize the 

 flow of streams and to save the flood waters. 

 Their construction has been conclusively shown 

 to be an undertaking too vast for private effort. 

 Nor can it be best accomplished by the individ- 

 ual States acting alone. Far-reaching interstate 

 problems are involved; and the resources of sin- 

 gle States would often be inadequate. It is 

 properly a national function, at least in some of 

 its features. It is as right for the National Gov- 

 ernment to make the streams and rivers of the 

 arid region useful by engineering works for 

 water storage as to make useful the rivers and 

 harbors of the humid region by engineering 



