THE PERIOD OF BEGINNINGS 



61 



CONCLUSION 



Thus it appears that at the end of the year 1878, most of the fac- 

 tors which were to determine the fate of our American forests were 

 already at work. Some steps had been taken in the direction of con- 

 servation. A few private individuals, associations and societies had 

 evinced considerable interest in the matter. Some of the states had 

 taken a few wobbly steps in the direction of forest protection and for- 

 est planting; while the Federal government had appropriated funds 

 for protection and investigation, and had made an unsuccessful 

 attempt at timber culture. These factors must not be given too much 

 emphasis, however. Conservation sentiment, although destined to grow 

 in influence within the next few decades, had as yet acquired little 

 momentum; and in 1878, it seemed to be developing less rapidly than 

 the anti-conservation spirit which had arisen to meet it. State action 

 had been generally ineffective, Federal efforts vacillating and often 

 futile, and all tree planting worse than a failure. 



Forces unfavorable to conservation had on the other hand attained 

 formidable power. Swamp land grants, grants for education, military 

 bounties, and the whole hydra-headed system of grants and conces- 

 sions to the railroads had provided for the alienation of several hun- 

 dred million acres of land — some of it timber land. The Preemption, 

 Commutation Homestead, Desert Land, Public Sale, and Private 

 Entry laws were available to timbermen for the acquisition of remain- 

 ing tracts ; and there was no reason to expect that any of these laws 

 would soon be repealed. The Free Timber and Timber and Stone acts 

 completed the category of iniquitous statutes. The manner in which 

 these various factors operated to accomplish the destruction or alien- 

 ation of most of the valuable public timber during the following years, 

 and the manner in which the conservation forces finally saved to the 

 American public a frazzled remnant of their original magnificent 

 heritage, will constitute the subject-matter of the following chapters. 



