92 UNITED STATES FOREST POLICY 



introduced,"® nothing was accomplished. In 1890, President Harrison 

 sent a message to Congress asking for legislative relief, and Senator 

 Paddock of Nebraska tried to secure this. Paddock's bill passed the 

 Senate in spite of the opposition of Senator Teller, who argued that 

 the United States had no right to regulate the public lands within the 

 states, but it was never reported in the House.®® 



In their efforts to enforce the laws against timber depredations, 

 government officers were hampered by the fact that the registers and 

 receivers had no power to subpoena witnesses. Citizens did not care to 

 testify, and often hardly dared to, especially in the most notorious 

 cases of fraud, where wealthy individuals or corporations were con- 

 cerned.^*^ Timber operators usually had little difficulty in presenting 

 their witnesses, in numbers proportionate to their resources, but the 

 government lacked the power to secure needed testimony. 



Commissioner Sparks, in 1886, called for a law conferring this 

 power,^"^ and later commissioners of the Land Office repeated his 

 recommendation, but in vain. In 1887, Senator Plumb of Kansas 

 introduced a bill to confer this power, but it was lost in committee, 

 and the following year a similar bill was reported adversely by the 

 Committee of the Judiciary, on the ground that the "expediency and 

 constitutionality" of the proposed legislation were questioned. ^"^ 



GROWTH OF CONSERVATION SENTIMENT 



It has now been pointed out that the public timber lands were being 

 stolen and plundered on a vast scale, and that most of the officers of 

 the Land Office between 1878 and 1891 constantly called for better 

 protection. Before treating further of congressional action in response 

 to this, it will be necessary to see what was the status of public opinion 

 in the matter, since Congress is usually more responsive to public 

 opinion than to departmental recommendations. 



While there were, during the seventies, some signs of public interest 

 in timber preservation, the development of any general interest in the 



98 H. R, 5556; 49 Cong. 1 sess.: H. R. 3279; 50 Cong, 1 sess.: H. R. 2647; 52 

 Cong. 1 sess. 



99 S. 4156; Cong. Rec, June 26, 1890, 6533. 



100 Report, Land Office, 1886, 101. 



101 Ibid. 



102 S. 3101; Cong. Rec, Jan. 10, 1887, 478: H. R. 848; 50 Cong. 1 sess. 



