342 Proceedings of the 



going on; for if the House Public Lands Committee 

 does nothing in this session of Congress (and they have 

 already voted to do nothing), the loss to this country 

 of $70,000 a day — $2,000,000 a month — $25,000,000 

 a year, and it is much more than that — will go right 

 along and continue until all the timberland of our 

 Government has been stolen. That will be a little 

 over a year, according to the report of the Senate 

 Public Lands Committee. And after the land is all 

 gone — after the horse has been stolen, the House Public 

 Lands Committee will awaken from their Rip Van 

 Winkle slumbers and close the stable door with a bang. 



Now who has got this vast sum of money that has 

 been lost to the people and the Government? Some 

 very enterprising gentlemen of the West have made 

 it, who are taking advantage of this law to their own 

 personal profit and we are very seriously told that the 

 West does not want the repeal of the Timber and Stone 

 Act. Mr. Lacey, of Iowa, the chairman of the commit- 

 tee, says that "the boys on the committee do not want 

 the law repealed." Let me illustrate this condition in 

 the West. Suppose we had a law by which $70,000 a day 

 or $2,000,000 a month was being paid to Tammany 

 Hall from the national treasury, to be divided among 

 the members of that organization and expended by 

 them as each of them in his judgment should deem 

 most meet and proper for the promotion of good gov- 

 ernment in New York City. 



Don't you suppose that Tammany Hall would be 

 opposed to the repeal of that law? 



You might apply the same idea with reference to 

 this question of the West. But it is a more serious 

 matter than that. There are men in Congress who will 

 deliberately stand up and say that this law should not 

 and shall not be repealed. 



