242 UNITED STATES FOREST POLICY 



mittee on Public Lands, and it passed the Senate without comment,*^ 

 but never came up in the House. The next year, Senator Fulton intro- 

 duced a bill into the Senate to extend the Free Timber Act to the 

 coast states-, but it was never considered. ^^ From 1905 to the present 

 time, little eifort has ever been made to secure a further extension of 

 free timber privileges. 



UNSUCCESSFUL EFFORTS TO CURTAIL FREE TIMBER 

 PRIVILEGES 



It seems strange that while extension of free timber acts was thus 

 secured in every case without any opposition or comment, several bills 

 were introduced into Congress to restrict the provisions of these very 

 acts. In 1894, Representative McRae of Arkansas introduced a bill 

 "To prevent the free use of timber on the public lands, and to revoke 

 all permits heretofore granted."^^ This bill, amended so as to abolish 

 only the provision allowing free timber for manufacturing purposes, 

 was favorably reported by the House Committee on Public Lands,^* 

 and in spite of the opposition of Coffeen of Wyoming and Bell of 

 Colorado, who saw in it great hardship for the millmen, passed the 

 House.*^ It never came up in the Senate, however. For several years, 

 McRae made persistent attempts to secure some modification of the 

 free timber acts, but without success.®" On March 2, 1900, Secretary 

 Hitchcock sent a bill to the Speaker of the House and to the President 

 of the Senate,®^ but it was not reported in either chamber. The next 

 year, Jenkins of Wisconsin introduced a bill of similar nature, which 

 likewise failed of a report.*^ 



The question of free timber received no attention for nearly ten 

 years after this, and when, at the request of President Taft in 1910, 

 Senator Nelson brought in a bill to regulate timber disposal,®^ almost 

 all of the timber of unreserved lands was gone, and the failure of this 



85 S. Report 1364; Cong. Bee, Apr. 19, 1904, 5080. 



86 S. 268; 59 Cong. 1 sess. 



87 H. R. 7854; 53 Cong. 2 sess. 



88 H. Report 1400. 



89 Cong. Rec, Dec. 5, 1894, 52-57. 



90 H. R. 40; 54 Cong. 1 sess.: H. R. 4090, H. R. 10878; 55 Cong. 2 sess.: H. R. 

 1032; 56 Cong. 1 sess. 



»i H. R. 10405, S. 3498; 56 Cong. 1 sess. 



92 H. R. 4371 ; 57 Cong. 1 sess. / 



93 S. 5489; 61 Cong. 2 sess. 



