236 UNITED STATES FOREST POLICY 



his efforts toward the repeal of the act itself, he aimed most of his 

 venom at the forest reserves. 



No doubt Roosevelt's order of withdrawal and the opposition 

 aroused by it were among the influences which caused the abolition of 

 the President's power to set aside reserves, but otherwise no result 

 accrued from these rather extended debates. The Timber and Stone 

 Act was not touched. ^^ 



Within a year or two after this, almost all of the public timber 

 lands of any value outside of the forest reserves had been taken up,^^ 

 so that the question of repealing the Timber and Stone Act was of 

 small and constantly decreasing importance. Most of the efforts in 

 that direction did not seek repeal of the act itself, but merely aimed 

 to provide for the sale of timber without the land. Representative 

 Reeder of Kansas introduced a bill in 1908 for this purpose, but the 

 main object of his measure, as of the bill which had passed the Senate 

 several years before,^^ was not to protect the public timber lands, but 

 to secure an addition to the reclamation fund.^* In 1910, Senator 

 Nelson of Minnesota, in response to a special message from President 

 Taft, introduced nine bills relating to the public land laws, one of them 

 providing for the sale of timber,''^ but nothing ever came of this bill. 

 Gronna of North Dakota introduced a similar measure into the House, 

 and later one into the Senate, but neither was reported.'® 



SALE OF BURNED TIMBER 



In 1910, the question of timber sales came before Congress in a new 

 way. The summer of 1910 was very hot and dry, and terrible forest 



51 It is worthy of note that Roosevelt did not hide behind his secretary on this 

 occasion, but took upon himself the responsibility of defending the order of with- 

 drawal and the general policy of the administration. "I wish to express my utter 

 and complete dissent from the statements that have been made as to there being 

 but a minimum of fraud in the actual working of our present land laws," he said 

 in a special message to Congress a few days after these debates. He went further 

 to show by tables that in four districts selected for consideration, 2300 cases had 

 been examined and in over half of them the law had not been complied with. 

 (S. Doc. 310; 59 Cong. 2 sess.) 



52 Report, Land Office, 1909, 21. 



53 S. 5054 ; 58 Cong. 2 sess. 



54 H. R. 21140; GO Cong. 1 sess. 



55 S. 5489; 61 Cong. 2 sess. 



56 H. R. 23698; 61 Cong. 2 sess.: S. 1586; 62 Cong. 1 sess. 



