THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



13? 



enact laws providing for a proper administration of all 

 other resources. With every department grasping for 

 power and seeking jurisdiction over resources of va- 

 rious kinds, and land withdrawals taking place every 

 few months, we can well take time to pause and ask 

 ourselves whither we are drifting. 



We have failed to grasp some opportunities in the 

 past which might have placed the states in position at 

 this time where interference by the bureaus at Wash- 

 ington would not be possible. Because we were then, 

 as now, grazing our flocks and herds without charge, 

 our selfish instinct opposed state control of the public 

 domain. We were afraid that the state might deem it 

 wise to divide the range and protect the stock business, 

 and that the expense of this administration might have 

 to be borne by the live stock interests. We lost a great 

 opportunity and now face a danger which did not 

 threaten fifteen years ago. We must now deal with 

 bureaus hundreds of miles away, which cannot be 

 reached by reason and whose policies cannot be modified 

 to suit local conditions. 



We live in the age of the advertiser. Those who 

 have wares to sell or who for any other reason. have cause 

 to bring matters to the attention of the public, have 

 learned the value of the art of advertising, and have 

 found that the catchy phrase is one of the best means 

 for reaching the desired result. 



Advertising is excusable on the part of merchants 

 or professional men. because these must compete with 

 others who are in the same line of business. To carry 

 methods which are necessary among the commercial re- 

 lations of men to places of trust and responsibility where 

 there is no competition and where scientific work only 

 is to be performed, is a dangerous policy in a govern- 

 ment of the people. 



The Forest Service of the United States is a 

 creature of advertising. The millions appropriated by 

 Congress each year are partially dissipated in carrying 

 on a very complete publicity department. We presume 

 that the people of the East, who read most of this 

 advertising, believe that the Forest Service is planting 

 trees, and doing everything on the great reserves in the 

 West to protect the present growth of timber and to in- 

 sure an ample timber supply in the future. We who 

 understand forest reserves also understand that they 

 are conducted primarily for the purpose of revenue. 

 This revenue was formerly used directly by the Forest 

 Service. Now it is deposited in the United States 

 Treasury and one-fourth of it is supposed to return to 

 the state in which the reserves are located. The larger 

 ' this revenue becomes, the stronger becomes the argu- 

 ments of the Forest Service for larger appropriations 

 from Congress. With each increase in the appropriation 

 the advertising resources of the Forest Service can be 

 extended. The writer has obtained the printed adver- 

 tising of the Forest Service for a considerable period 

 and as yet has not found a single instance where any- 

 thing new in the science of forest work has been de- 

 scribed therein. The advertising deals with persons and 

 policies. 



The familiar and gloomy picture so often presented 

 by the Forest Service that our forests will disappear 

 within twenty years if the present use contiuues, is an 

 example of some of the stock advertising indulged in by 

 this Department. It is intended to bring converts to 

 the policies of the Forest Service by leading the public 

 to believe that the timber supply is likely to be in- 



sufficient within the next few years. With trees grow- 

 ing throughout the country; with a timbered country 

 extending from the Canadian borders to Alaska and 

 from Mexico through South America, there is no cause 

 for any great worry in this direction. Lumber from 

 South America and British Columbia can be laid down 

 at our principal seaports at a price that will compete 

 with any of our domestic timber. 



Forestry, like any other kind of agriculture, will 

 always be maintained in, accordance with its value to 

 the people concerned. No one should endeavor to mini- 

 mize the value of trees and forests. No department of 

 the Government should take advantage of the natural 

 disposition of the people to embrace policies which will 

 guarantee the success of any agricultural pursuit, for 

 personal or political purposes. 



A year ago Congress passed an Act, in connection 

 with the appropriation for the Forest Service, which 

 reads as follows: "That no part of this appropriation 

 shall be paid or used for the purpose of paying for, in 

 whole or in part, the preparation or publication of any 

 newspaper or magazine article, but this shall not pre- 

 vent the giving out to all persons without discrimina- 

 tion, including newspapers and magazine writers and 

 publishers, of any facts or official information of value 

 to the public." This seeming restriction of the adver- 

 tising work of this Department has seemed to encour- 

 age rather than discourage the officers of the Forest 

 Service. 



A weed pulled up by the roots cannot survive. If 

 cut off, leaving the roots in good condition, it may 

 thrive more luxuriantly than though it were left in its 

 original state. It would seem that this Act of Congress, 

 in an attempt to curtail vicious advertising by a scien- 

 tific department of the Government, which should stand 

 on the merit of its own work, has given such treatment 

 to that department as does the farmer who removes the 

 top of a sunflower without injury to the stalk of the 

 plant. After such treatment the sunflower branches 

 out and flourishes like a green bay tree. Since the Act 

 of Congress a year ago, the Forest Service has not only 

 continued its own campaign, but it has branched out 

 and is responsible for the Conservation Commission, and 

 the Commission to study conditions of country life. 



The advertising issued in. behalf of the various com- 

 missions has attached to it a colored slip of paper one- 

 half of which contains the law restricting the use of 

 the appropriation for advertising purposes, and the 

 other half is a frank addressed to the Forest Service at 

 Washington. The law is quoted to deceive the public, 

 because it would not be presumed that any department 

 would quote a law while in the act of violating it. The 

 frank is for the purpose of returning to the forester any 

 papers which may publish advertising matter free of 

 cost. The Conservation Commission is therefore an off- 

 shoot of the Forest Service. We do not know as yet 

 what this new branch of the Forest Service is to bring 

 about. We do know that it is flourishing under that 

 successful system of advertising inaugurated by the chief 

 of that service. We do not know as yet how we are to 

 actually conserve our resources except by failing to make 

 any use of them. 



When the pilgrim fathers landed on the bleak coast 

 of New England they were not restricted in the use of 

 any resources at their disposal. They grazed their herds 

 and flocks on the lands that were held in common and 

 their prosperity and progress was largely due to the 



