THE GOVERNMENT LEADS 



111 



less, democratic government progresses no further 

 in any given line than public opinion demands, and 

 if its representatives as yet have no definite solution 

 to offer, then we ourselves are chiefly to blame. 



Many years ago all the land outside the thirteen 

 original states belonged to the federal government. 



The National Forests of the United States. The shaded areas 



represent forest lands now owned and controlled by the United States 



Department of Agriculture. 



Timbered areas at that time possessed no more 

 value than those unforested, and were in fact, for 

 the purposes of permanent occupation, considerably 

 less desirable than agricultural lands. If anyone 

 could have foreseen the present situation our gov- 



