160 UNITED STATES FOREST POLICY 



of them actively favored government regulation, such as existed in the 

 forest reserves, because it prevented overgrazing and minimized the 

 disputes constantly arising among claimants to grazing districts. °* 

 Finally, there can be little doubt that one of the main reasons for the 

 attitude of the western men was the fact that the money appropriated 

 was spent in their own vicinity, and not all of it in "interfering with 

 the development of the West." Part of the appropriations — $500,000 

 in 1907 — was spent for roads and improvements of various kinds. 

 The benefits thus accruing were probably exaggerated, for the average 

 man sees too much advantage in "money spent at home." 



On the other hand, the opposition of such eastern men as Mann, 

 Hemenway, and Lodge arose partly from a sincere belief that the 

 administration of the forest reserves was becoming extravagant, and 

 partly from a well-founded fear that the conservation movement was 

 becoming a menace to some of the business interests they represented. 

 Some of the railroads, coal mining interests, oil interests, as well as 

 timber interests, had headquarters in the East, and they saw their 

 "green pastures" disappearing as the reservation policy broadened 

 to include more and more of the natural resources which had before 

 been open to private exploitation. Some of these men represented the 

 anti-administration wing of the Republican party which grew up in 

 the latter years of Roosevelt's administration. 



On the whole, the increase in appropriations was unquestionably 

 significant of a changing attitude toward conservation, yet its sig- 

 nificance is qualified by several considerations. In the first place, most 

 government expenditures were increasing rajjidly. The expenditures 

 for the entire Department of Agriculture, for instance, increased 

 during this same period, from $3,000,000 to $10,000,000— over 300 

 per cent.^^ The country was prosperous, and the government extrava- 

 gant, so that larger appropriations were hardly as significant as they 

 would have been under other circumstances. In the second place, it 

 must be remembered that these appropriations did not bring conserva- 

 tion squarely into issue ; and, finally, it will be noted that the number 



z^Cong. Bee, Feb. 18, 1907, 3189: Proceedings, Am. Forestry Assoc, 1894-95- 

 96, 71: S. Doc. 189, 58 Cong. 3 sess. (diagram in back of book). For a description 

 of the difficulties arising under unregulated grazing see Forestry and Irrigation, 

 Apr., 1907, 211. 



55 Statistical Abstract, 1907, mO. 



