ANTI-CONSERVATION ACTIVITY 205 



speeches in Congress attacking Pinchot, with no purpose evidently 

 but to weaken Pinchot's campaign; and on one occasion, Moore of 

 Pennsylvania and Johnson of W^ashington became so engrossed in a 

 debate on the subject that Mann of Illinois had to urge a point of 

 order."*" 



In the attack of 1916, some men even from the central and eastern 

 states evinced a suspicion that the Forest Service was extravagant, if 

 nothing worse. In the House, Bennett of New York, Steenerson of 

 Minnesota, Clark of Missouri, Hamilton of Michigan, and Haugen of 

 Iowa ; and in the Senate, Stone of Missouri and Borah of Idaho voiced 

 this suspicion.^"^ 



THE ALASKA FORESTS 



In the anti-conservation attacks of recent years, the Alaska 

 national forests have been subjected to a great deal of criticism. 

 There are two reserves in Alaska, both of them extending along the 

 coast — the Chugach, in the Prince William Sound region, far to the 

 north, and the Tongass, which lies just north of the Canadian line. 

 Criticism has been directed mainly at the Chugach reserve, which has 

 the poorest stand of timber. The charge has been made repeatedly 

 that little (Humphrey once said only 10 per cent) of the area included 

 is real forest land, and that what timber there is there, is of poor 

 quality, and not worth the cost of protection. 



As to the justice of the criticism, it is somewhat difficult to judge, 

 owing to the contradictory nature of the reports. Doubtless there is 

 much truth in the charges regarding the quality of the timber included 

 here. The Governor of Alaska insists that the Chugach National 

 Forest is largely waste land which will never be utilized, and is not 

 worth the cost of maintenance; while Mr. Graves, after a careful 

 inspection of these regions, reported that there was a large amount 

 of timber which would at least be useful in the industrial development 

 of the region near the forest. Perhaps mining interests have been 



100 Cong. Rec, Jan. 7, 1910, 388, 393, 406; May 16, 1912, 6531; June 3, 1913, 1884; 

 June IT, 1913, 2058; Nov. 22, 1913, 5971, 5972; Mar. 12, 1914, 4755; Mar. 14, 1914, 

 4867; Jan. 22, 1915, 2146; Apr. 18, 1916, 6395: H. J. Res. 103; 61 Cong. 2 sess.: 

 Outlook, May 14, 1910, 57; Sept. 10, 1910, 60: World's Work, 25, 246. 



101 H. R. 20415; 63 Cong. 3 sess., 2148 et seq.: H. R. 12717; 64 Cong. 1 sess., 

 6386, 6450, 6589, 10326 et seq. 



