136 UNITED STATES FOREST POLICY 



in the western country do not desire to do anything that is not proper, 

 that is not right," he announced. "We only ask for equal and exact 

 justice; we only ask to help develop the Union of the States. . . . 

 Suppose these forest reservations had been made years ago, and that 

 these- withdrawals had been made in California, would the $1,500,- 

 000,000 of gold have been produced in that state .f" . . . If such with- 

 drawal had been made in Idaho, would she have contributed her 

 $200,000,000 of gold and silver to our national wealth.? . . . Had 

 the mountainous regions of Montana been withdrawn, would she have 

 given us her $35,000,000 yearly of the precious metals.'' A wonderful 

 development has been made, a wonderful growth has come about. It 

 was not done by silver; it was not done by gold; it Was not accom- 

 plished by paper money ; but it was accomplished by the energy, the 

 industry, the perseverance, the trials, the self-denials of the hardy 

 pioneers who have blazed the pathway of civilization into a magnifi- 

 cent highway and built upon the other side of the Rocky Mountains 

 an empire for you and for me." 



The conservation forces made no very spirited contest, because 

 even the eastern men felt that Cleveland's proclamations had caused 

 considerable hardship, and that there was much justice in the western 

 demand for relief. Even staunch conservationists were willing that 

 some relief should be provided, but they were not willing to let the 

 attacks upon the general policy of forest reservation go unchallenged ; 

 and Allison of Iowa, Gorman of Maryland, Hawley of Connecticut, 

 and Gray of Delaware took up the defense with some energy. Gray 

 announced that while he was willing to make concessions, he still sup- 

 ported the reservation policy. "All I want," he said, "is that the 

 Senate should not consider that we have abandoned this great ques- 

 tion of forest preservation in the interest of the whole people of the 

 United States to the selfish interests of speculators and owners — and 

 I say it in no invidious sense — who have rushed into that country, and 

 of course will naturally sacrifice larger interests to the particular 

 interest they have in hand. ... I do not blame them, but they need 

 the regulating hand of law. I do not blame a man who goes into that 

 country and finds he has a large fortune in view, if he sacrifices large 

 interests in the future to present advantage, that he may gain by his 

 conduct. It is not human nature that he will, unless the strong hand 



