64 UNITED STATES FOREST POLICY 



the instructions issued by Secretary Schurz in 1878, in which he 

 stated : "This act will be enforced against persons trespassing upon 

 any other than lands which are in fact mineral or have been withdrawn 

 as such."* 



The Free Timber Act would thus have been of extremely limited 

 effect if it had been strictly applied and its limitations enforced, but 

 it was not so applied and its provisions were not enforced. Secretary 

 Schurz's regulations seem sufficiently severe. He not only interpreted 

 the term "mineral" very strictly, but also directed that no trees less 

 than eight inches in diameter should be taken. ^ Doubtless, too, he 

 enforced his regulations as vigorously as funds permitted. In 1882, 

 howpver, H. M. Teller of Colorado became Secretary of the Interior, 

 and his enforcement of the timber land laws was such as might have 

 been expected of a western man, with a strong western bias on land 

 questions. His effort to broaden the scope of the Free Timber Act has 

 been noted ;^° and his general policy was to allow lumber dealers, mill 

 owners, and railroad contractors to cut timber even for commercial 

 purposes, and for sale as well as for use.^^ 



With the inauguration of President Cleveland, a new spirit entered 

 the Land Department, and, under Secretary Lamar and Commissioner 

 Sparks, the policy of Teller was completely reversed. Another circular 

 of instructions regarding the Free Timber Act was issued, perhaps 

 even more strict than that of Schurz. ^^ This circular directed that the 

 "land must be known to be of a strictly mineral character" in order 

 to be included in the provisions of the act. This, it will be observed, 

 anticipates the decision in Davis vs. Weibold by nearly five years. 

 Also in its regulations regarding sawmills operating under the act, 

 this circular evinces the most explicit care. Every manager of a saw- 

 mill was required to keep a record showing when and by whom all tim- 



8 Report, Land Office, 1878, 119. 



9 Ibid. 



10 Cross Reference, p. 63. 



11 Report, Sec. of Int., 1885, 235: "Land Decisions," I, 597. Secretary Teller was 

 himself the owner of a number of mines in the West, and so was in a position to 

 profit by the loosest possible interpretation of the Free Timber Act. It has been 

 stated that he got title to some of his mining lands while Secretary of the Interior, 

 but the writer has no absolute proof of this statement. (Cong. Rec, Jan. 29, 1906, 

 1883; Feb. 26, 1909, 3227.) 



^2 Report, Sec. of Int., 1887, 552: "Land Decisions," IV, 521. 



