240 UNITED STATES FOREST POLICY 



The clause providing for regulation by the Secretary of the Inte- 

 rior seems to have been of little avail at first, but in 1898, Secretary 

 Bliss adopted regulations which greatly restricted the abuses arising 

 under the law. The policy of granting permits to millmen for large 

 quantities of timber was abandoned, permits were restricted to the 

 use of settlers, and the amount of timber given was limited to $100 

 worth annually J^ This policy immediately resulted in a great reduc- 

 tion in the number of permits sought. Thus in 1898, only thirty-six 

 permits were asked for, whereas six years before, 425 applications had 

 been received.^^ 



The two free timber acts together always constituted an agency 

 most destructive of the public timber, however, and their evil effects 

 were pointed out by the officers of the Department of the Interior, by 

 the committee of the National Academy of Sciences,^* and in 1910, 

 by President Taft in a special message to Congress.^'' Almost every 

 annual report of the Secretary of the Interior and of the Commis- 

 sioner of the Land Office called for the modification or repeal of one 

 or both of these acts. The response of Congress to these repeated 

 complaints and recommendations was about the same as had been its 

 response to complaints regarding the Timber and Stone Act. 



FURTHER EXTENSION OF FREE TIMBER PRIVILEGES 



A total repeal of all free timber privileges was hardly to be ex-< 

 pected, or even desired, for the free timber acts provided the only way 

 by which settlers could get timber from the unreserved public lands. A 

 repeal of all such provisions would have called for some law authoriz- 

 ing the sale of timber; and even had sale been authorized, it would 

 probably have been unwise to abolish all free timber privileges. Such 

 action would certainly have aroused great opposition in the West, and 

 the conservation cause might have suffered a serious check. The pro- 

 vision granting free timber for manufacturing purposes, however, 

 should certainly have been abolished. The fact that Secretary Bliss' 

 regulations of 1898, restricting permits to settlers, resulted in so 



72 Report, Land Office, 1898, 100, 101, 



■'s Report, Land Office; 1893, IT; 1895, 85; 1898, 100. 



74 S. Doc, 105 ; 55 Cong. 1 sess. 



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



