244 UNITED STATES FOREST POLICY 



Academy of Sciences estimated in 1897 that in the preceding decade 

 over 11,000,000,000 feet of timber had been illegally taken from the 

 public domain,^** and the committee gave figures showing that during 

 that time the government sued for over $26,000,000 and recovered 

 something over $1,000,000 — about 4 per cent of the amount sued for. 

 In the late nineties and thereafter, however, a considerable increase 

 in efficiency is indicated. Thus, in 1895, a total of about $47,000 

 was recovered for timber trespasses,"^ while in the next year, over 

 $182,000 was recovered. In 1909, with the appropriation of $1,000,- 

 000, 216 special agents were employed, and nearly $350,000 was 

 recovered for various acts of fraud and trespass."^ In 1911, 386 civil 

 suits were instituted for frauds and trespass, largely on timber lands, 

 and of these, 304 were won, while 124 criminal convictions were 

 secured, and 47 prison sentences imposed."® It is not to be supposed 

 that the greater number of cases reported, suits instituted, and the 

 greater amount of money recovered, in later years, was due to a 

 greater amount of fraud and trespass committed, for without doubt 

 land frauds decreased pretty generally throughout the period under 

 consideration. The larger appropriations were resulting in more effi- 

 cient enforcement of the laws ; and then, of course, Hitchcock, Pinchot, 

 and Roosevelt injected a new spirit into public land administration. 



OTHER HELPFUL LEGISLATION 



Congress did more than merely appropriate money. In the first 

 place, as pointed out in connection with the forest reserves, a law was 

 passed in 1897 imposing a heavy penalty for setting out fires on the 

 public domain."" This law was secured, it may be noted, in spite of the 

 opposition of Congressman Bailey of Texas and Little of Arkansas, 

 Bailey being opposed to the heavy penalty — a fine of not more than 

 $5000, or imprisonment for not over two years — while Little opposed 



95 S. Doc. 105 ; 55 Cong. 1 sess., 33, 34. George F. Schwartz, of the United States 

 Forest Service, estimated in 1909 that the government prosecutions then pending 

 involved a total value of over $114,000,000. {Report, National Conservation Com- 

 mission, II, 396-399.) 



96S. Doc. 105 ; 55 Cong. 1 sess., 33, 34. 



87 Report, Land Office, 1912, 11. 



98 Ibid. 



99 Stat. 29, 594, 



U 



