188 UNITED STATES FOREST POLICY 



disregard the interests of the men of flesh and blood who have built up 

 that country."*" 



The complaints of the western men did not elicit a large measure of 

 sympathy in the House. Lacey of Iowa saw one aspect of the situa- 

 tion very clearly. "I am not surprised," he pointedly remarked, "to 

 find a great deal of hostility to this order, coming in general from a 

 source not very far from the headquarters of some of the great mines 

 of the country, which have been getting timber free of charge under 

 permits from the Interior Department. ... I have examined permits 

 giving to certain mines in South Dakota — to certain mine operators 

 there ; not silver miners, either, but gold bugs — the privilege of cutting 

 four square miles of timber in a single permit absolutely free of charge. 

 In connection with the same mines, I have seen railroads which have 

 been built right through that timber, and upon those railway trains 

 almost mountains of timber are carried and dumped at the foot of 

 the mine, free of charge so far as the Government is concerned. No 

 wonder gentlemen complain of the loss or curtailment of such a 

 privilege as this. Nothing is so sacred as an abuse."*^ 



McRae of Arkansas likewise showed how the miners were receiving 

 free timber under more liberal terms than ever before, yet were not 

 content to exploit the timber on the public domain, but wanted to 

 invade also the reserves. "I appeal to you," he said in closing his argu- 

 ment, "in behalf of the millions of people along our rivers, for pro- 

 tection. I appeal to you in behalf of the health and prosperity of the 

 people of the West to protect them. I appeal to you in behalf of the 

 arid region, where there .are neither trees nor water, to protect them. 

 Save our forest reservations and prevent the floods upon the mighty 

 Mississippi." Lacey and McRae received some help in their opposition, 

 even from the West, for Bell of Colorado defended the reservation 

 policy because it conserved the water supply for the valleys below. 

 Underwood of Alabama favored an amendment giving the President 

 power to change any of the reservations, instead of Congress doing it, 

 on the grounds that the President could act more quickly and more 

 intelligently than Congress. Cannon also favored this idea, but it 

 never came to a vote, and the debate was finally cut off by Lacey's 



40 Cong. Bee, May 10, 969, 970; May 11, 1007, 1008, 1013. 



41 Ibid., May 10, 965. 



