I 



THE UNRESERVED TIMBER LAND 229 



sale of public lands in Missouri,^* had passed the Senate, and when it 

 came up in the House, Lacey offered an amendment providing also 

 for the abolition of the distinction between offered and unoffered lands. 

 This amendment was agreed to in both houses without opposition, and, 

 no Grover Cleveland being in the President's chair, it became a law 



_on May 18, 1898.-' 



It might seem that the Timber and Stone Act had now been ex- 



'tended as far as the most enterprising timber speculator could have 

 wished, but during the next few years, Lacey made efforts to extend 

 the provisions of the act to Alaska.^* In 1900, a bill for that purpose 

 was favorably reported by the House Committee on Public Lands ;" 



jbut nothing further was accomplished. 



UNSUCCESSFUL EFFORTS TO REPEAL OR AMEND THE TIMBER 



AND STONE ACT 



In 1900, Commissioner Binger Hermann sought to limit the evil 



iffects of the Timber and Stone Act by providing for the sale of timber 

 rithout the land, just as in the forest reserves. He drafted a bill for 



this purpose and Hitchcock sent it to the Speaker of the House, but 



it was lost in the Committee on Public Lands. ^^ 



The first efforts to repeal the Timber and Stone Act were of course 

 lade by eastern men. In 1902, Representative Power of Massachu- 

 etts introduced a bill providing for the repeal of the act,^^ but it was 



Jever reported. A Senate bill, introduced the same day by Quarles of 

 '^isconsin, to repeal the Timber and Stone and several other acts, 

 ired somewhat better, receiving a favorable report from the Com- 

 littee on Public Lands. ^"^ In this bill, the question of timber land sales 

 ras so intermingled with other public land questions, however, that the 



report was of very limited significance as far as it concerned the 



Timber and Stone Act ; especially since a dissenting minority report 



was also made. 



24 S. 1586. 



25 Cong. Bee, May 3, 1898, 4526; May 5, 1898, 4628: Stat. 30, 418, 



26 H. R. 9291; 56 Cong. 1 sess.: H. R. 12117; 57 Cong. 1 sess. 



27 H. Report 568; 56 Cong. 1 sess. 



28 H. Doc. 487; 56 Cong. 1 sess. 



29 H. R. 15509; 57 Cong. 2 sess. 



30 S. 6363, S. Report, 3166. 



