122 UNITED STATES FOREST POLICY 



A somewhat different plan for using the military machinery of the 

 country was that of Professor Sargent, who suggested the establish- 

 ment of a chair of forestry at the United States Military Academy 

 at West Point, with control of the forests by educated officers, study 

 at the academy to be supplemented by practical study in the woods. 

 This scheme was favored by the American Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science, and by several men of influence, among them 

 George Anderson, captain of the United States Army in charge of 

 Yellowstone Park. Roosevelt gave only qualified approval, while 

 Pinchot, Fernow, and Bowers opposed the plan, and it never received 

 serious consideration in Congress. ^^ 



EFFORTS IN CONGRESS TO SECURE BETTER PROTECTION 



Petitions appeared in Congress praying for better protection of 

 the forest reserves, and some efforts were made to secure this. In 1892, 

 Representative Caminetti of California submitted a resolution calling 

 for a report as to the condition of the forest reservations in Cali- 

 fornia.^^ In the same year, a bill introduced by Senator Paddock of 

 Nebraska, "To provide for the establishment, protection, and admin- 

 istration of public forest reservations," was favorably reported in 

 the Senate, but made no further progress, although strongly urged 

 by the American Forestry Association. Similar measures introduced 

 by Holman of Indiana, McRae of Arkansas, and Townsend of Colo- 

 rado, were not even reported. ^^ 



THE McRAE BILL 



The bill which aroused most interest and debate was one introduced 

 and vigorously urged by the man who had made almost the only speech 

 against the reservation measure in 1891 — McRae of Arkansas. 

 McRae's bill contained a number of excellent provisions, besides the 

 one providing for the protection of the reserves. In the first place, it 

 provided for the sale of timber to the highest bidder at not less than 

 appraised value, the receipts from timber sales to be used for the 

 protection of the reserves. In the second place, the Secretary of War 



11 Century Magazine, Feb., 1895, 626. 



12 H. Report 2096 ; 52 Cong. 1 sess. 



13 H. R. 102, S. 2763, S. 3235, S. Report 1002; 52 Cong. 1 sess.: H. R. 10101, 

 H. R. 10207; 52 Cong. 2 sess. 



