116 OUR VANISHING FORESTS 



Minnesota and Wisconsin if the once extensive 

 forests of those states could be re-established. It 

 is probable also that the United States Government 

 should acquire lands in Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, 

 Kentucky and other states. The state of Michigan 

 alone has today ten million acres of idle land, which 

 in time could be brought into a state of effective 

 productivity. Even with tliese additions, however, 

 the government timber crop would still be very far 

 from supplying all our needs. 



Under the American Constitution the authority 

 of the national government to acquire land is not 

 absolute. The Weeks Law was hung upon a pro- 

 vision authorizing the protection of navigable 

 rivers. A fair and proper distribution of the 

 national forests through the central states, however, 

 would demand the purchase of land not strictly 

 within watershed areas, and a search will have to be 

 made to legally justify the necessary legislation 

 upon some other grounds. The time has certainly 

 arrived when the preservation of cheap building 

 materials and the insurance of a future supply is 

 quite as much in the public interest as is the main- 

 tenance of river navigation. 



The example of the federal government in acquir- 

 ing and operating forest land has been followed by 

 a number of states. Pennsylvania and New York 



