AMERICAN FOREST CONGRESS 347 



hundreds of thousands of acres, of new forests by the 

 national government on the wide level prairies and 

 bare, rolling foot-hills which are now supposed to be 

 among the waste places of the land and only fit for 

 grazing ground for a few stray cattle and sheep. 



It is the vast possibilities of forest planting and tim- 

 ber production in this region that makes it almost a 

 crime against future generations to part with the land 

 in its present condition to stockmen under such a 

 scheme as the Kinkaid bill for the creation of large 

 grazing estates in private ownership. 



The mining and transportation interests, more im- 

 mediately than any other, ought to oppose this 64O-acre 

 homestead idea anywhere in the great plains or Rocky 

 Mountain States, and help to inaugurate a great 

 national policy of planting new forests, not only to 

 furnish wood and timber for the mines, and railroad 

 ties and timber for railroad construction and repair, 

 but to conserve and increase the rainfall, regulate the 

 flow of the rivers, stop floods and furnish water for 

 irrigation. 



In all those Western States, the State has the power 

 to form districts for local public improvements, such 

 as irrigation districts, sanitary districts, drainage dis- 

 tricts, or levee districts, and I, for one, do not believe 

 that it is the right policy that the national government 

 should assume the burden of protecting from fire 

 forests now owned by men who have gotten them 

 from the Government for one-tenth of their value. 

 The State and nation should cooperate to form forestry 

 districts and have assessments levied on all private 

 lands in the district, and every acre, whether in public 

 or private ownership, should contribute its proportion 

 to the cost of preserving it from fire. 



There is one more thing I am going to urge as a 



