746 A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY 



EARLY FEDERAL FORESTRY MOVEMENT 



Before taking up the development of State forestry from 1885 on, 

 it is necessary to bring within the field of vision what was beginning 

 to be done by the Federal Government; for this was to have a very 

 great influence upon the States. 



The year 1876 saw the first provision made by Congress for the 

 inauguration of forestry work as a Federal activity. It was also the 

 year in which the first Western State asked Congress to turn over to 

 it the timberlands within its borders. In the following year the pro- 

 posal was first submitted to Congress that it should reserve and place 

 under administration the timberlands of the public domain. 



It will be recalled that the legislation authorizing the Department 

 of Agriculture to conduct investigations in forestry and making an 

 appropriation for this work had been sponsored by the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science. The law brought into 

 being a small bureau of inquiry and information. No important de- 

 parture from past policy, no commitment of Government to a new 

 kind of activity, was involved in that. Nor was the request of 

 Colorado that the public timberlands within the State be made over 

 to her a proposal of an essentially new Federal policy. To dispose of 

 the public lands, in one way or another, had always been the basic 

 policy of the Federal Government, and for that matter of the States 

 too. But the idea of the Government's undertaking permanent 

 forest management was a bold and astonishing departure. It did not 

 originate with those who had been previously active on behalf of 

 forestry. Not only did it come from outside their number; it pro- 

 posed a kind of public activity which some if not all of them had 

 regarded as wholly out of the question. 



There was every reason to hold it so. It flew in the face of accepted 

 ideas regarding the functions of the Federal Government. It in- 

 volved a reversal of the course which had been pursued with respect 

 to the public domain from the foundation of the Union, and conflicted 

 with the whole American tradition of individualism and preference 

 for private property ownership. And it proposed the assumption 

 by the Federal Government of a kind of public undertaking for which 

 it was not only manifestly unequipped but also manifestly at that 

 time unfitted. Moreover, it brought the proposal forward at a time 

 when the inherent weakness of the political system as then evolved 

 for taking on duties that called for integrity, long-range stability, 

 and expert administration stood shockingly revealed. 



The scandalous frauds and open pillage which had been commonly 

 practiced under the public land laws were well known. They had 

 been freely set forth in the annual reports of the Interior Department. 

 The corruption which had invaded public life and besmirched public 

 officials of the highest rank, involving not only members of the 

 executive and legislative branches of the Federal Government but 

 also of the judiciary, had been freshly and startlingly exposed. It is 

 doubtful if there was ever a time in the history of the Republic when 

 the morale of government was at a lower ebb and public distrust of 

 the ability of government to serve the public welfare with fidelity, 

 consistency, intelligence, and disinterested enterprise was deeper or 

 better grounded. Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz originated 

 and brought forward what was eventually to become the national 



