'56 



THE FORESTER. 



July, 



point. Especially in the Middle West, 

 the day soon came when local wood sup- 

 plies were no longer adequate and recourse 

 was had to the still undiminished stores of 

 the North and East, to the vast forests of 

 Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, New 

 York and Pennsylvania. The sudden, 

 almost miraculous, growth of our railway 

 system, which began to reach a full impe- 

 tus immediately after the Civil War. and 

 the building of telegraph lines, a little 

 later, created an enormous demand Eor 

 ties, poles and construction materials, for 

 rolling-stock, stations, and so on. and soon 

 began to tax available resources to the full. 

 It ia accordingly from about 1850, when 

 the lumber industry began the rapid de\ el- 

 opment which it has pursued ever si i 

 that sentiment, and hence, incidentally, 

 law favoring a wiser use of forest rielu - 

 began to make themselves felt. 



III. THE BEGINNINGS OF A FEDERAL 

 FOREST POLICY. 



The first national interest in the preser- 

 vation of timber, like the first regulations 

 of the colonists, was partly due to tradi- 

 tion on one hand and to ignorance on the 

 other. The proposed enlargement of the 

 Navy, which began to excite so much in- 

 terest about 1790, explains the origin of 

 the first Federal timber laws. With a 

 view to discovering the best woods for 

 naval construction, investigations were 

 made as to the character and the supplies 

 of suitable timber. The agents charged 



* 



with this work reported emphatically in 

 favor o'f Live Oak, which they assured 

 the government would outlast all other 

 woods. Their opinion was just, and the 

 vessels subsequently built from this ma- 

 terial proved even more durable than had 

 been anticipated. 



This judgment once reached, surveyors 

 were ordered to seek out the quantities of 

 Live Oak available and to report upon 

 their situation and extent. Sums were 

 appropriated for suitable tracts. Thus, 

 by the first Federal forest law, passed 

 February 25, 1799, $200,000 were appro- 

 priated for the purchase of growing or 

 other timber, or of lands on which timber 

 was growing suitable for the Navy, and 



for its preservation for future use. As a 

 result of this act several small purchases 

 \\cre made on the coast of Georgia. An 

 act of March i, 1817, renewed the earlier 

 law and directed the reservation of such 

 public lands, having a growth of Live 

 ( )ak or Cedar timber suitable for the 

 Navv. as might be selected by the Presi- 

 dent. Acting under the authority of this 

 la\\ tin- Seeietarv of the N'avv. under di- 

 lection of the President, appointed agents 

 and a surveyor to explore and select such 

 lands. A resenation of 19,000 acres in 

 Louisiana followed, some 2 |O,OOO acres in 

 all being acquired bv these and subsequent 

 acts. Further acts \\ere passed in iNjo, 

 [822, [825, [827, [828 and [831. The 

 .iii of [822 i February, -.v' 1 authoi i/.cd the 

 President toemplo\ SO much of the land 

 and naval threes as might be necessary 

 effectually to protect public timber in the 

 State of Florida, and to take such further 

 measure's as might be advisable. (U. S. 

 K. S.. Sec. 2460.) The act of i.s^i pro- 

 dded a line of triple the value of the 

 timber and imprisonment not exceeding 

 twelve months, \\here timber \\as cut or 

 removed from public lands rcser\ed for 

 the use of the Na\v: and also for the for- 

 feiture to the I'liiled States of any vessel 

 having on board, with the knowledge of 

 the master, o\\ ner. or consignee, timber 

 taken from naval reserves or public lands, 

 with intent to transport the same to any 

 port or place \\ithin the United Statc^. or 

 for export to anv foreign country: the 

 captain or master of such vessel being re- 

 quired to pay a sum not exceeding $i,OOO. 

 (U. S. R. S.. Sees. -|<">i, 2462. 2 \(IT > .) 



These highly restrictive enactments were 

 productive of more harm than good. In 

 the first place, thev were far too severe, 

 especially when a judicial decision de- 

 clared (9 Howard, 351 ) that the provisions 

 of the law of 1831 applied to all timber 

 on public lands, whether that timber was 

 suitable for naval purposes or not. A law 

 which took no account of the needs of the 

 settlers, which made it a penal offense to 

 take timber from public lands, where tim- 

 ber was necessary and where only public 

 timber was available, could not possibly 

 be respected. Depredations in open dis- 







