HOSTILITY TO NATIONAL FORESTS 273 



than all the herds of deer that you could put upon acres of ground. I 

 have no doubt that the beautiful spotted fawns would look more beau- 

 tiful to our friends from the East, when they come out there, but they 

 perhaps would not care a snap about seeing the western people driv- 

 ing up the lowing kine. They would rather see them shooting deer ; but 

 we are talking about practical life and practical government and 

 practical things, and we are substituting cities for forests ; we are 

 trading off the timber for civilization, and you come out there and 

 undertake to stay our hand !" Senator Borah complained of the elk 

 crowding the sheep out of the reserves. Governor Richards of Wyo- 

 ming suggested that the West wanted "to raise agricultural products, 

 not wolves, bear, and other game for the purpose of making Wyoming 

 a game preserve for eastern sportsmen. "^^ 



There is room for a difference of opinion as to the advisability of 

 establishing extensive game preserves; but it is to be noted that the 

 movement for the preservation of our wild life has made a great deal 

 of headway in the past decade, and almost no session of Congress 

 passes without a number of bills being introduced for the establish- 

 ment of such preserves. 



LOSS OF TAXING POWER 



Few arguments against the reservation policy have been urged as 

 often as the argument that it causes a serious loss in the taxing power 

 of the states and local units in the West, and, by reducing the number 

 of taxpayers, throws a heavy burden on the few who reside in or near 

 the forest reserves. 



It was as a compensation for this loss in taxing power that the 

 Agricultural Appropriation Bill of 1906 provided for the payment 

 of 10 per cent of the revenues from national forests to the various 

 states and territories, for the benefit of the public schools and roads 

 of the counties in which the reserves were situated. This was not satis- 

 factory to the West, however, and in 1 908, the amount was raised to 

 25 per cent ; but even 25 per cent was not enough, and repeated efforts 

 have been made since to have this further increased. 



A very determined effort was made in 1910 to amend the Agricul- 



28 Cong. Rec, Mar. 7, 1910, 2845; May 15, 1912, 6485: No. Am. Review, 177, 217: 

 Cross Reference, pp. 302-305. 



