1903 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



421 



timber and water resources of the 

 region. 



A second petition, signed by practi- 

 cally all the settlers of the region, calls 

 for the establishment of a forest reserve 

 in certain mountain lands known as the 

 Shoshone Range in Cassia county, south 

 central Idaho. Here, too, the timber 

 resources have been recklessly treated 

 and are rapidly nearing an end, while 

 at the same time the water supply of 

 the region is seriously threatened. The 

 petition is accompanied by a plot of the 

 lands which are asked to be reserved ; 

 they include about 185,000 acres. 



Sound Advice. The following sensible 

 advice to its readers is 

 given by the Saratoga (Wyo.) Sim, 

 one of the most ably edited news- 

 papers in the state : 



"Gentlemen, when you get done 

 howling over the forest reserve ques- 

 tion, suppose you take up something 

 else just for a change. The forest re- 

 serves will, no doubt, be modified and 

 made to comply as nearly as may be 

 with the timbered area, for really the 

 government is not interested with any- 

 thing else. When that is done, and 

 done properly, rest assured that the 

 forest reserve is there to stay. And 

 you can rest assured of another thing 

 that the government is not going to 

 allow the reserves to be turned into 

 pasture lands for the benefit of stock- 

 men. The government is setting aside 

 these reserves for the purpose of pre- 

 serving the timber on them, in order to 

 hold the snow to make water for irriga- 

 tion purposes, to carry out the great 

 plan inaugurated when the irrigation 

 bill was passed. The government (and 

 every sane person) recognizes the fact 

 that it is the man who builds ditches 

 and plants alfalfa, grain, and vegetables 

 that is the bone and sinew of the coun- 

 try, and it is for the home-maker that 

 all of this forest reserve and irrigation 

 work is being done, and not for the man 

 who travels in a sheep wagon here and 

 there over the country or roams the 

 land with a round-up wagon and a band 

 of cowboys. Howl as much as you have 

 a mind to, but you will find in the end 



that the President knows exactly what 

 he is doing and why he is doing it." 



A New Use 

 for Forest 

 Reserves. 



A new use for forest 

 reserves has been dis- 

 covered in Wyoming by 

 way of New York. In 

 the August number of the North Ameri- 

 can Review there is an article on "Ag- 

 gressive Forest Reservation," by James 

 P. Kimball. The author of this article 

 has large ranching interests in the re- 

 gion of the Yellowstone Forest Reserve 

 in Wyoming, and he resents very bitterly 

 the extension of the boundaries of this 

 reserve, even though the government is 

 reserving its own land. Not so long ago 

 the Department of the Interior refused 

 to eliminate a large tract of land from 

 the Cascade Forest Reserve in Oregon 

 which would have benefited a certain 

 mining company in which Mr. Kimball 

 was deeply interested. So much for 

 Mr. Kimball and his reasons for writing 

 an article objecting to the forest-reserve 

 policy of the government. 



The North American Review is devoted 

 to the discussion of the world's great 

 questions, if we are to believe some of its 

 advertisements of itself. But as deeply 

 as FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION is inter- 

 ested in forest reserves and all matters 

 relating to our forests, we cannot see 

 that the ground covered by this article is 

 so important as to give it a place among 

 the contributions of ' ' the earth's intel- 

 lectual leaders." Further, it is not the 

 editor's keen interest in forest matters 

 that decided him in selecting this article 

 for publication. As Mr. Kipling says, 

 ' ' that is another story. ' ' 



The editor of the North American Re- 

 vien' is at the head of a well-known pub- 

 lishing house, and he directs several 

 other publications, notably Harper's 

 Weekly. He is backed by, and owes 

 allegiance to, large moneyed interests 

 that are hostile to President Roosevelt. 

 Under pretended friendly guise his pub- 

 lications have been carrying on a very 

 contemptible campaign, trying to arouse 

 feeling against the President. An}' per- 

 son who knows the situation and has 

 read Harper s Weekly the past few 

 months understands this fully. 



