124 UNITED STATES FOREST POLICY 



while it purports to protect timber, is calculated in every provision 

 from title to terminus to destroy our timber through the operations 

 of corporations and mill owners who are authorized to buy the timber 

 under the provisions of the bill." 



A second objection urged against McRae's bill was that it would 

 throw the timber supply of the West into the hands of large corpora- 

 tions and monopolists. Hermann argued that it would benefit mainly 

 the "mill men and the large syndicates and great landowners, or 

 speculators and capitalists." Simpson considered that "such legisla- 

 tion would simply be in the interest of the corporations that are 

 hungering to get possession of the public domain." Rawlins of Utah 

 said the bill would merely be "an inducement to monopolies to gobble 

 it [the timber] all up and dispose of it to the people at such prices as 

 they themselves may dictate." Hartman of Montana argued in similar 

 vein : "You say to corporations that are able to purchase this timber, 

 'You may have whatever timber you desire.' But at the same time you 

 say to the honest settler, the hard-handed miner, or farmer, or stock 

 raiser, 'You can not have a foot of this timber, unless you purchase it 

 in competition with these corporations ; unless you do that you must 

 either steal the timber or freeze to death.' " 



Some of the western men were doubtless sincere in their fear of 

 monopoly, and in their belief that the sale of timber would lead to 

 forest destruction. Few men in Congress, even as late as this, had yet 

 grasped the principles that govern intelligent forest administration. 

 Few were able to understand the wisdom of selling the timber while 

 retaining the ownership of the land; and many still had an entire 

 misconception as to the proper use and management of forest reserves. 

 Many seemed to think that the forest reserves should be locked up, 

 preserved sacred and inviolate from every valuable use. They did not 

 yet understand that scientific forest administration implies not only 

 protection, but also the use of mature timber under such restrictions 

 as to prevent injury to the growing trees. 



While thus some of the western representatives were sincere, even 

 if misguided, in their fear that the sale of timber would stimulate 

 forest destruction, others doubtless used this argument as a cloak to 

 hide their real motives. McRae distrusted them. "Instead of proposing 

 fair amendments," he said, addressing himself to the opposition, "you 



