80 THE LOG OF A TIMBER CEUISEE 



th' politicians; that's what makes thim mad. An' 

 that's the reason they're hollerin' their heads off 

 about the turrible guv'ment regulations of Forests 

 an' how lovely t 'would be if the states had thim. 

 T 'would so but fer the politicians and their fren's, 

 not fer you and me. 



"An' much as they holler, an' much as they'd like 

 to git somethin' on the Forest Service, ye never 

 heard one av thim yet cha-a-rge any favrytism 

 ye never heard thim say that any offishul of the serv- 

 ice give one man anathin' ahead of another, unless 

 he had a right to ut. ' ' 



We applauded McGee's speech heartily. Nor did 

 it take us by surprise. For among the actual users 

 of the Forest, the men earning their living by work- 

 ing for it, the general feeling now is that the Forest 

 Service administration is fair and just and in general 

 conducive of much better conditions for the small 

 man than the old laAssez faire policy of competition 

 and waste on range and in forest could ever be ; that 

 it would be a calamity to return to that condition and 

 that it would be a regime only a little, if any, less 

 disastrous if the forests were to be put into the 

 control of the various states. For that would mean, 

 in too many cases, into the hands of the state bosses. 



Before we left this camp the old miner bestowed 

 upon us a wealth of facts regarding the mineral re- 

 sources of the Black Eange. He was optimistic as 

 to future prospects. He showed us samples of ore 

 that looked good, and seemed to think that it would 



