Hon. [ohn W. Weeks, Representative from Massachusetts 



of the session, and when it was received 

 in the House was referred to the com- 

 mittee on agriculture. In the House, 

 three new bills were framed in the com- 

 mittee on agriculture by Weeks, of 

 Massachusetts, Lever, of South Caro- 

 lina, and Pollard, of Nebraska. None 

 of these was acceptable to the commit- 

 tee, which finally reported to the House 

 a bill prepared by a subcommittee un- 

 der the leadership of Chairman Scott. 

 This bill granted permission to any 

 group of states to form an agreement 

 for protecting their forests and streams, 

 and provided for a congressional com- 



mission to investigate the relation of 

 the forested watersheds of the Appa- 

 lachian rivers and the navigability of 

 such rivers and report to the President 

 with recommendations before January 

 i, 1909. This bill, generally known as 

 the Scott bill, passed the House by a 

 vote of 202 to forty and w r as referred in 

 the Senate to the committee on com- 

 merce, where it was pigeon-holed. For 

 several reasons, which may all be 

 summed up in the phrase "inapplica- 

 bility to existing conditions," it was in 

 no way acceptable to the friends of 

 practical Appalachian forest legislation. 



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