THE UNRESERVED TIMBER LAND 227 



reserved public land."^ Almost every report of the Secretary of the 

 Interior and of the Commissioner of the Land Office pointed out the 

 evil results of the act and asked for its repeal. Periodicals described 

 the frauds perpetrated under the act and recommended its repeal/" 

 The Public Lands Commission stated in 1904: "The repeal of the 

 Timber and Stone Act will unquestionably cure the most obvious 

 defect in the administration of the public lands" ; and the next year 

 this commission again urged the repeal of the law/^ In 1906, a com- 

 mittee of the National Board of Trade quoted reports of the Secre- 

 tary of the Interior showing the evils of the act.^^ In 1909, the 

 National Conservation Commission said : "It is clear that the Timber 

 and Stone Act does not fulfill the purpose for which it was passed, 

 and that it should be repealed."^^ Of course the American Forestry 

 Association constantly worked for the repeal of the act/* 



President Roosevelt and Gilford Pinchot were well aware of the evils 

 of this law, and did all in their power to secure its repeal. In 1906, 

 Roosevelt sent a special message to Congress, calling attention to the 

 unsatisfactory condition of affairs, and on the same day, he directed 

 the Secretary of the Interior to allow no further patents to be issued 

 until entries had been carefully examined and actual compliance with 

 the law clearly shown. ^^ This action of course stirred up a great deal 

 of opposition in the West, but Roosevelt stood firmly by his order, 

 and called for an appropriation of $500,000 with which to carry it 

 out,^^ President Taft also sent a special message to Congress in 1910, 

 asking for the repeal of this act.^^ 



FURTHER EXTENSION OF ITS PROVISIONS 

 The response of Congress to these urgent recommendations con- 

 stitutes one of the numerous discreditable chapters in the history of 



Report, Sec. of Int., 1901, LXV. In November, 1892, Hitchcock ordered the 

 investigation of all entries made under the act, in Oregon, California, and Wash- 

 ington; and nearly 10,000 entries were suspended. (Report, Sec. of Int., 1903, 316.) 



10 Outlook, Feb. 1, 1908, 239: Atlantic Monthly, July, 1908, 6. 



11 S. Doc. 189; 58 Cong. 3 sess., V, XVII. 



12 Forestry and Irrigation, Jan., 1906, 49. 



13 S. Doc. 676; 60 Cong. 2 sess.. Vol. I, 87. 

 1* Forestry and Irrigation, Jan. 1907, 14. 



15 S. Doc. 141 ; 59 Cong. 2 sess. 



16 S. Doc. 310; 59 Cong. 2 sess. 

 IT Cong. Rec, Jan. 17, 1910, 682. 



