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FOREST RESERVES IN THE EAST 221 



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Secretary of War, the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of 

 Agriculture, two members of the Senate, and two members of the 

 House. Most of the active work of examining and selecting lands for 

 purchase was, however, turned over to the Secretary of Agriculture. 

 In addition to these provisions, the Weeks Law gave Federal sanc- 

 tion to agreements the states might make among themselves for the 

 protection of forests ; and appropriated $200,000 for fire protection, 

 in cooperation with those states which were willing to appropriate an 

 amount equal to that furnished by the Federal government. A rather 

 generous provision gave to the states concerned 5 per cent of the 

 receipts from reserves situated within their boundaries, for the benefit 

 of schools and roads. This was later increased to 25 per cent. 



LATER CHANGES 



The law had been in force only a short time when it became evident 

 that changes were needed. In the first place, it was found that the 

 commission had not wide enough discretion to deal effectively with 

 lands in which minerals had been reserved, or lands in which the stand- 

 ing timber had been sold but not cut. In other cases, it was found that 

 rights of way had been granted 'across tracts of lands, and that 

 arrangement had to be made with the owner of the right before 

 purchase could be made. 



Some desirable lands were offered for sale on which the water power 

 privileges were very valuable, and, while these lands could be ac- 

 quired at a reasonable price without the power privileges, the price 

 would have been prohibitive had a sufficient amount been added to 

 cover the value of the power. The law made no provision for the reser- 

 vation of water power, and apparently the only course was to elimi- 

 nate from the purchase such land as was required for the proper 

 development of the power. However, this greatly reduced the value to 

 the government of the remaining portions of such tracts, for it 

 admitted of a situation in which private ownership of a strip of land 

 along the narrow bed of a waterway might render it impossible to 

 remove any portion of the timber from the surrounding watershed. 

 The National Forest Reservation Commission wished the law to be 

 so modified as to allow the reservation of water power under its own 

 rules and regulations ; and in 1913, this was provided for. At the same 



