210 UNITED STATES FOREST POLICY 



The House was at no time so favorably disposed toward buying up 

 forest reserves. The rulings of Speaker Cannon were claimed to be 

 responsible for the failure of House bills to come to a vote, and doubt- 

 less there was truth in this assertion, for Cannon was opposed to the 

 idea, and was of course in a position to make his opposition felt.^^ 

 Aside from his influence, however, the interests favorable to this legis- 

 lation were certainly not so strong in the House as in the Senate. In 

 spite of the situation in the House, an amendment to the Agricultural 

 Appropriation Bill passed both houses in 1907, granting $25,000 for 

 the survey of lands in the Appalachian and White mountains.^® The 

 House vote on this proposition shows New England and the southern 

 states leagued in favor of the proposition, while the north central and 

 western states were generally opposed. ^^ 



In the sixtieth Congress, an increasing interest was shown. Sena- 

 tors Brandegee of Connecticut and Gallinger of New Hampshire did 

 aggressive work in the Senate, and a bill fathered by the former, 

 appropriating $5,000,000 for the purchase of forest lands, passed 

 the upper house in spite of rather vigorous opposition from some of 

 the western anti-conservationists — Teller, Heyburn, Fulton, and 

 Clark. ^^ This bill, with a number of amendments, also passed the 

 House, by a narrow margin — 157 to 147;^® but when it came back to 

 the Senate as amended, a determined filibuster was undertaken by 

 Teller, Heyburn, Clark, Borah, and Carter, and the measure was 

 finally lost.'" 



A number of bills were introduced into the House by Lever of South 

 Carolina, Currier of New Hampshire, Pollard of Nebraska, and Weeks 

 of Massachusetts ; but none of these ever received favorable considera- 

 tion.'^ A bill reported by Scott of Kansas, chairman of the Committee 

 on Agriculture, passed the House, however, by the decisive vote of 



■i^^ Forestry and Irrigation, Jan., 1907, 30; Apr., 1908, 178, 179. 



16 Stat. 34, 1281. 



IT Cong. Bee, Mar, 2, 1907, 4489. 



18 S. 2985, S. 4825; 60 Cong. 1 sess.: Cong. Bee, May 15, 1908, 6328-6330; May 

 16, 6385-6401, 6403-6409. 



19 Cong. Bee, Mar. 1, 1909, 3566. 



20 Cong. Bee, Mar. 3, 1909, 3749-3751. 



21 H. R. 10456, H. R. 21220, H. R. 21221, H. R. 21357, H. R. 21767, H. R. 

 22238; 60 Cong. 1 sess.: H. R. 26295, H. R. 26923, H. R. 27056; 60 Cong. 2 sess. 



