EDITORIAL DEPARTMEINT 



A NEW MENACE TO FORESTRY 

 BY HENRY S. GRAVES, FORMER CHIEF FORESTER 



' I ' HE foresters of the country and the friends of the for- 



1 



estry movement are watching with interest and anxie- 

 ty the proposals for the reorganization of the Government 

 departments, especially as these proposals relate to the 

 Forest Service. This is not merely a matter of academic 

 interest, for the manner in which the work of the Gov- 

 ernment is organized and conducted will have a far-reach- 

 ing influence on the policies applied in the National For- 

 ests and on the effectiveness of the general forestry move- 

 ment as led by the Government. A change in the form 

 of the federal organization, and especially one that dis- 

 members the Forest Service or divides the responsibility 

 of its work, will inevitably impair the effectiveness of the 

 national undertaking and perhaps set back the progress 

 of forestry throughout the country for many years. Cer- 

 tainly any change that would result in altering the present 

 broad objectives, policy, and point of view in forestry 

 would be a serious blow to the whole movement. 



The federal forest work is now centralized in a single 

 bureau, the Forest Service. This organization is charged 

 with the administration of the National Forests, with 

 leadership in bringing about forestry in the States and on 

 the property of private timberland owners and farmers, 

 with research in forestry as it pertains to the problems 

 of production and utilization of timber, and with general 

 educational work in forestry. Excellent progress has 

 been made in forestry for two reasons ; first, because the 

 functions of the Government have been centralized in one 

 responsible organization, and second, because the Forest 

 Service is now in a Department specially qualified on ac- 

 count of its natural functions and point of view, to super- 

 vise its work. There is now distinct danger that the 

 Forest Service will be taken from the Department of Ag- 

 riculture and placed where by nature of things a different 

 point of view exists ; and there is danger also of actual 

 dismemberment of the Forest Service and of dividing 

 the responsibility of the federal work in forestry among 

 two or more organizations. The possibility of such action 

 is of vital concern to every person interested in the prog- 

 ress of the forestry movement; it is of personal concern 

 to the lumbermen, stock men, ranchers, farmers, miners 

 and others who live adjacent to the National Forests and 

 whose permanent welfare is affected by the manner in 

 which the public resources are administered. 



The Administration has not^disclosed its definite plans. 

 Many hints, however, have found their way into the press 

 that suggest that a radical change affecting the Forest Serv- 

 ice is in contemplation. It will be recalled that for several 

 years the Engineering Council, representing the organ- 

 ized engineers of the country, has been advocating the cre- 

 ation of a Department of Public Works. This proposal 

 has many admirable features, although the specific sug- 

 gestions have, in my opinion, certain defects. Among 

 other things the proposal includes the transfer of the For- 

 est Service to the new department, under the allegation 

 that its work is primarily of an engineering character. 



Recent articles in the press indicate that this plan has the 

 support of the National Budget Committee of New York 

 and of various other agencies interested in Governmental 

 reorganization ; and the newspapers also indicate that some 

 plan of this sort is being considered by the Administration. 

 The theory appears to be that the Department of the Inte- 

 rior, whether under its present name or that of Public 

 Works, should have two main functions, first, the work of 

 an engineering character that might be included under the 

 general term Public Works, and second, the administration 

 of the public domain. Apparently the idea is to absorb the 

 Forest Service in this new Department, with its admin- 

 istrative functions on the National Forests classed partly 

 as engineering and partly as public domain. In case of 

 such a transfer, the functions of the Forest Service would 

 probably be divided among several bureaus rather than be 

 centralized as at present. While the published proposals 

 do not indicate what would be done with the technological 

 and industrial research in forest products now conducted 

 at the Madison Laboratory, rumor in Washington has it 

 that this would be severed from the Forest Service en- 

 tirely and transferred to the Department of Commerce. 

 * * * 



Formerly the forestry work of the Government was di- 

 vided. The Agricultural Department handled the prob- 

 lems of forest production; the Interior Department had 

 the administration of the public forests. The plan was a 

 failure. The public forests were not administered ef- 

 ficiently, and the efforts to utilize the technical corps of 

 foresters in the Agricultural Department in cooperation 

 with the Interior Department broke down. It was only 

 when the handling of the public forests was made a func- 

 tion of the Agricultural Department, as part of the broad 

 responsibilities of the Government in forestry, that ef- 

 ficiency was secured and a forward looking policy de- 

 veloped. Then the handling of the National Forests was 

 made successful and the new policy has been cordially ac- 

 cepted by the people of the West, where most of the public 

 forests are located. 



The responsibilities of the Federal Government in for- 

 estry are not merely confined to the administration of the 

 National Forests. In fact, these public properties com- 

 prise only about twenty-three per cent of the forests of 

 the country. The functions of the Forest Service include 

 the leadership in bringing about the proper handling of 

 all of the forests of the country. In accomplishing this 

 the National Forests must play a large part, both through 

 the example of good forest administration and through 

 cooperation with States and private owners by the organi- 

 zation which is actually and successfully applying forestry 

 on the public property. 



Among the reasons why the Forest Service should re- 

 main in the Department of Agriculture are the following : 



I. The task of forestry is so intimately related to the 

 agricultural development of the country that it cannot be 

 successfully worked out as an undertaking separate from 



