GOVERNMENT CONTROL OF THE FORESTS. 97 



ture, railroading, mining, etc., within the reservations. Summing up these 

 defects, Land Commissioner Carter recommended that "provision should 

 be made for the immediate reservation of all public lands bearing forests 

 or timber, except for entry and mining lands." 



Tte defects in the law and the crudeness of our original petition were 

 followed by strong remonstrances against the Minnesota reserve, and *it 

 was left out of the list of proclamations, with several others like situated. 



NEW BASE OF OPERATIONS. 



Gaining ground by experience, the Minnesota foresters joined with those 

 of other states, demanding a law which, as stated by Mr. Carter, "shall 

 make adequate provision in respect to both forest reservation and the 

 cutting and removal of timber to supply the public necessities." Finding 

 our lumbermen and other business citizens endorsed this suggestion of the 

 land commissioner, our State Forestry Association has since issued the 

 following petition, which is here again laid before the candid considera- 

 tion of our people in confident trust that they will not only endorse it, but 

 heartily work to secure something of the kind before the lands there are 

 so placed as not to be available for a reserve. A like petition has been 

 endorsed by the State Horticultural Society: 



PETITION FOR A FOREST RESERVE. 



To the President of the United States : 



The undersigned citizens of Minnesota set forth that the annual fires on 

 the woodlands of the public domain have destroyed much valuable timber 

 and largely injured the forest conditions necessary to economize our waters; 

 that^ the stealing of timber has been immense; that the methods of cutting 

 have been wasteful and ruinous to timber preservation and culture. We 

 therefore respectfully urge the passage of a bill which shall ask for a prac- 

 tical system of forestry, managed by proper police forces to guard against 

 fires and trespass and develop forest growth. In accord therewith, we 

 respectfully urge that a reserve in one body, or in separate sections, be 

 located on the public domain at the sources of the Mississippi, Red, St. 

 Louis and St. Croix Rivers, or other points, carved out of non-agricultural 

 lands, aggregating not less than 2,000,000 acres, and so regulated as not tc 

 restrict the rights of bona fide settlers, nor the rights of lumbering, mining 

 and railroading, but rather to promote those industries without detriment 

 to forest preservation. 



