88 An American Forest Administration. [272 



any running fires will be checked and a chance given 

 to fight the fires from these safety strips as a basis. 



In regard to the methods of supplying wood mate- 

 rial, it is to be kept in view that, in a country which 

 is as yet partially settled and developed, require- 

 ments are of a different nature from those of the 

 more densely populated Eastern States. This has 

 been recognized by devising different classes of 

 licenses under which timber supplies may be obtained, 

 namely, one for the settler and one for the prospector, 

 each to supply his immediate wants on a designated 

 area upon payment of a small annual fee, and a 

 further license to the local lumberman, who supplies 

 the smaller communities, upon payment of additional 

 acreage and stumpage fees. 



To satisfy the requirements of the lumber business, 

 a business which must exist in every developed 

 community, special licenses are provided, to cover 

 larger areas, with a longer time for cutting, with 

 higher acreage and stumpage fees, and other neces- 

 sary restrictions and regulations. 



It may be stated in passing, that this system of 

 selling stumpage and allowing the cutting by the 

 purchaser, under control, is not the most desirable, 

 and is one to be gradually changed as changing 

 conditions permit, but it seems to be the only practi- 

 cable one under present conditions. 



The third object to be attained by the proposed 

 administration, namely, natural reforestation, and 

 continuity of forest cover, is the only one in which 

 forestry as a science is involved. 



To discuss what should or should not be done in 

 this direction, would mean a discussion of the prin- 



