72 UNITED STATES FOREST POLICY 



the first place it related only to surveyed lands in the states named, 

 and for that reason much of the land was not immediately available 

 under its provisions; although Congress showed a disposition to 

 extend its operation by appropriating $30,000 two weeks later, "for 

 a survey of timbered lands exclusively.'"*" In the second place, the 

 government was to sell only lands "chiefly valuable for timber but 

 unjit for cultivation" which had "not been offered at public sale." 

 The restriction to lands unfit for cultivation, had it been enforced, 

 would of course have eliminated some timber lands, while limiting 

 sale to unoffered lands shut out practically all of the timber lands 

 of the South, which had been offered under the act of 1876.^^ A third 

 limitation forbade the sale of lands containing gold, silver, copper, 

 or coal. 



Subject to these limitations, the Timber and Stone Act provided 

 for the sale of 160 acres of timber land to any person or association, 

 "at the minimum price of $2.50 per acre." The phrase, "at the mini- 

 mum price of $2.50 per acre," should doubtless have been interpreted 

 to mean somewhere near the real value of the land, but not below 

 $2.50. It was not so interpreted, however, and timber lands of all 

 kinds were sold at this price. Secretary Schurz, in his circular of 

 instructions issued soon after the passage of the act, made no specific 

 reference to this section,^* apparently deeming its intent clear enough 

 without explanation, but the registers and receivers, lacking adequate 

 provision for the examination and valuation of the lands, found it 

 convenient to sell at the minimum rate provided; and this practice 

 was always followed until as late as 1908,^^ when the timber lands 

 were practically all disposed of. It seems to have been generally 

 believed that the lands must be sold at $2.50, for so honest and aggres- 

 sive a public servant as Commissioner Sparks complained in 1885 

 of the inadequacy of the price, apparently believing that the remedy 

 lay with Congress, rather than with himself and the Secretary of the 

 Interior.^" 



It is true that some of the regulations provided in the act seemed 



32 Stat. 20, 229. 



33 Cross Reference, pp. 40-53. 



34 Report, Sec. of Int., 1878, 134. 



35 "Lumber Industry," I, 263. 



" 36 Report, Sec. of Int., 1885, 225. 



