COMMITTEES ON BEHALF OF THE GOVERNMENT 315 



this provision of law, the reserved forest lands in 1896 comprised 

 no less than eighteen million acres, for which there was no 

 definite system of management. Moved apparently by this cir- 

 cumstance, 169 under date of February 15, 1896, the Secretary of 

 the Interior, Hoke Smith, addressed the following letter to the 

 President of the Academy: 17 



" DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, 



"WASHINGTON, February 15, 1896. 



" SIR: I have the honor, as the head of the Department charged with the 

 administration of the public domain, to request an investigation and report of your 

 honorable body, as is provided in the act incorporating the National Academy, 

 and by article 5, section 5, of its constitution, upon the inauguration of a rational 

 forest policy for the forested lands of the United States. 



" Being convinced of the necessity for a radical change in the existing policy 

 with reference to the disposal and preservation of the forests upon the public 

 domain, I particularly desire an official expression from your body upon the fol- 

 lowing points : 



" I. Is it desirable and practicable to preserve from fire and to maintain perma- 

 nently as forested lands those portions of the public domain now bearing wood 

 growth for the supply of timber? 



" 2. How far does the influence of forest upon climate, soil, and water condi- 

 tions make desirable a policy of forest conservation in regions where the public 

 domain is principally situated ? 



" 3. What specific legislation should be enacted to remedy the evils now con- 

 fessedly existing? 



" My predecessors in office for the last twenty years have vainly called attention 

 to the inadequacy and confusion of existing laws relating to the public timber 

 lands, and consequent absence of an intelligent policy in their administration, 

 resulting in such conditions as may, if not speedily stopped, prevent a proper 

 development of a large portion of our country; and because the evil grows more 

 and more as the years go by, I am impelled to emphasize the importance of the 

 question by calling upon you for the opinion and advice of that body of scientists 

 which is officially empowered to act in such cases as this. 



" I also beg to refer you to the proposed legislation which has been introduced 

 into Congress for several years past at the instance of the American Forestry 

 Association, supported by memorials of private citizens and scientific bodies, and 

 more especially the memorials presented by the American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science in 1873, which led to desirable legislation, and again in 

 1890, 1892, and in 1894. 



189 See Yearbook U. S. Dep. Agric., 1899, p. 13. 

 170 Rep. Nat. Acad. Sci. for 1896, p. 13. 



