American Forest Congress 19 



lands is a forest question, and like all other national 

 forest questions its settlement should always be for the 

 best interests of the people most deeply interested. 

 Forest reserves are essential to the permanent produc- 

 tiveness of that portion of the public range which they 

 enclose. The question of grazing has from the be- 

 ginning been the chief problem in the management of 

 the forest reserves. The principles which control the 

 conservative use of the public range are identical with 

 those which control the conservative use of the public 

 forests. The objects are a constant supply of wood 

 and water on the one hand and of forage on the other. 

 Just as the saw mills must eventually shut down unless 

 forestry is applied to the forest from which the saw 

 logs come, so the horses, the cattle, and the sheep of 

 the West must decrease both in quality and number, 

 unless the range lands of the arid region are wisely 

 used. Over-grazing is just as fatal to the live stock 

 industry as destructive logging is to the lumber in- 

 dustry. The highest returns from the forest can be 

 had only through recognizing it as invested capital, 

 capable, under wise management, of a steady and 

 increasing yield, and the permanent carrying power 

 of the range can be maintained or increased only by 

 the wise regulation of grazing. 



The relation of railroads to the forest is no less vital 

 than that of the lumberman. The development of 

 systems of transportation upon a secure basis depends 

 directly upon the preservation and wise use of the 

 forest. Without a permanent supply of wood and 

 water, the business of the railroads will decline, be- 

 cause those industries upon whose production that 

 business mainly depends cannot prosper. But the 

 railroads are interested in a still more vital way. As 

 great and increasing consumers of wood for ties, con- 



