86 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY 



to best preserve the water supply for purposes of irriga- 

 tion in the West. And as an assurance of their continu- 

 ance they have recently been transferred by act of Con- 

 gress to the Department of Agriculture for their per- 

 manent management and administration. These forests 

 are not reserved from use but are set apart for use in 

 every manner not inconsistent with their preservation. 

 Only a government lives long enough to plant trees ex- 

 tensively. The brevity of human life deters the individ- 

 ual from a project yielding such slow returns. 



A reasonable amount of pasturing will be permitted 

 but not enough to injure the young tree growth. The 

 ripened and matured timber will from time to time be cut 

 and removed and these great reserves will become a val- 

 uable resource to our government. Under reasonable 

 regulations in their shelter the remnant of our useful wild 

 animal life will find protection. 



In Europe the subject of national forestry has been 

 taken up with most successful results. 



Mountains had been recklessly denuded of their pro- 

 tection and the valleys below had suffered from the gravel 

 and sand which came down from the mountain sides. 



Terraces have been built at heavy cost and the shelter- 

 ing woods again begin to resume their old duty 



The governments of the old world have found that 

 these national forests are sources of income. 



There is an air of lusty life about the woods. The 

 man who was blind from his birth associated the beauty 

 of life with what he could feel in his sightless mind of the 

 delight of the forest, and when the scales fell from his 

 eyes he "saw men as trees walking." 



In this forestry movement everything has been in- 

 tensely practical. 



"Better an acre in Middlesex than a principality in 



