206 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



WONDERFUL FOR SOMEBODY 



SecreUry of the Interior Fall has a perfectly wonder- 

 ful plan for Alaska. 



He sees how a lot of money is to be made up there and 

 he's going to let -you in on it if he possibly can. He 

 said so. 



"If I can get the legislation through Congress," he 

 says, "I propose to have a revolving fund created with 

 which to develop the immense resources of Alaska. 



"Oil wells, copper smelters, etc., will be developed and 

 run by this department until they are strong enough to 

 live without government aid. At that time they will be 

 sold or leased for long periods to private capital." 



See the point? 



Mr. Fall will take your money nd with it start things 

 going in Alaska. 



And then after you take the losses and the enterprises 

 begin to make money he will let you step out and big 

 business step in! 



Isn't that nice? 



"I am perfectly sincere in this," says Mr. Fall. No 

 doubt he is. 



What do you think about if 



HOW THE SCRIPPS-McRAE PAPERS VIEW IT 



The above cartoon and statement appeared in the Wash- 

 ington, D. C, Daily News and some of the twenty-eight other 

 Scripps-McRae newspapers. 



called upon to choose between partisan interests and the pub- 

 lic interest. 



There is good reason to hope that aroused and enlightened 

 public sentiment will prevent the backward step which has 

 been contemplated. Without the propaganda this sentiment 

 could not have been created. Propaganda with an evil motive, 

 whether it be veracious or mendacious, cannot accomplish a 

 great deal in the United States. But propaganda which is 

 based on public interest and which adheres strictly to the 

 truth is a legitimate and useful method directing attention to 

 pending legislation which is undesirable. The campaign to 

 save the forests is an instance of propaganda at its best. 



Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch Secretary Fall has come out 

 into the open in his effort to get the forestry management of 

 the federal government out of the Department of Agriculture 

 and into his own jurisdiction. In an ill-tempered letter to a 

 member of the House, Secretary Fall states that he knows that 

 his ideas as to the development of our material resources "do 

 not meet with the approval of certain narrow-minded and 



biased bureaucratic government officials and their followers." 

 This is simply an attempt to create the belief that opposi. 

 tion to the transfer of the forestry work is merely a part or 

 the opposition to a more efficient reorganization of the entire 

 executive branch of the government. If Secretary Fall's in- 

 formation on the whole foresery situation is so limited that 

 he can entertain such an opinion, this alone would be enough 

 to show that he is not the man into whose keeping the forestry 

 interests of the country should be placed. 



Secretary Fall ought to know that one of the difficulties 

 which the administration is finding in getting proper public 

 support for the reorganization plan is the fact that this plan 

 is carrying the load of this proposed forestry transfer, con- 

 trary to the judgment of virtually everybody who has given 

 serious attention to the problems of reforestation, and of the 

 proper care an economic utilization of the forest areas still 

 uncut. Many who would like to give their active influence 

 to the cause of departmental reorganization are unable to tio 

 so, as long as that cause is linked with this wholly reactionary 

 proposition. 



The Washington Correspondent of the Philadelphia North 

 American, on March 8 wrote "The attempt by Secretary 

 of the Interior Albert Fall to obtain control of the re- 

 sources of Alaska, and also of the National Forests in 

 the western states, has precipitated such a fight by conserva- 

 tionists throughout the country that unless President Harding 

 shall intervene to stop the controversy within his own cabinet, 

 and take a stand against the Fall proposal, the whole admin- 

 istration may be involved in a serious scandal. * * * * 

 With the attacks upon him of which Secretary Fall complains, 

 Mr. Pinchot has had nothing whatever to do. The attacks 

 have resulted from activities of the American Forestry Asso- 

 ciation against Mr. Fall's demand that he be given control 

 of Alaskan resources and forest reserves in the states. Even 

 the Forestry Association has refrained from attacking Mr. 

 Fall's motives, and has thus far confined its efforts to pointing 

 out that the policy Mr. Fall advocates would be a bad one for 

 the country." 



The Washington Correspondent of the Philadelphia 

 Evening Ledger, on March 7 wrote "The bureau- 

 cratic aspects of the situation are much less important 

 than its possible effects upon the preservation of the greatest 

 forest area under the flag. Tree destruction has been one of 

 the penalties of our civilization. It had been hoped that the 

 exception to the course of thoughtless extravagance and 

 waste might be recorded in Alaska. 



"It is relatively immaterial what department wins the glory, 

 provided tree wealth in the vast Northwest Territory is prop- 

 erly husbanded." 



Ann Arbor (Mich.) Times News "The time element is 

 important in any consideration of the forestry problem. 

 In a few years the growth of centuries can be cut away. 

 That is why government officials should be very slow to 

 make any change at Washington which would endanger 

 the future of our national forests. If federal officials obey 

 the demand that is heard in every section of the country 

 they will leave the Forest Service alone. 



"The proposed change has been and is being opposed 

 by the Michigan Farm Bureau, by members of the faculty 

 at the university, and by many organizations throughout the 

 state and the United States. 



'<There is a demand for the standing timber, to be sure, on 

 the part of men interested in the commercial phases of 

 timber cutting, but there is a far greater demand that we look 

 to the future before cutting down the comparatively small 

 amount of timber that we still have standing. 



"Leave the Forest Service alone." 



