276 UNITED STATES FOREST POLICY 



Considerable complaint was made because the roads built through 

 the forests were inadequate, some men claiming that western communi- 

 ties often had to bear the cost of building these roads, since the gov- 

 ernment did not do it, and some roads were necessary to preserve ade- 

 quate communication with the rest of the world. In 1912, the Senate 

 inserted an amendment to the Agricultural Appropriation Bill, pro- 

 viding that in addition to the 25 per cent for roads and schools in the 

 counties where the national forests were located, another 25 per cent 

 should be used to build roads and trails in the national forests them- 

 selves. The House refused to agree with this, but finally 10 per cent 

 was secured for this purpose. Efforts have been made since to get this 

 increased but thus far without success. In 1916, however. Congress 

 appropriated $10,000,000 for the construction of roads in the 

 national forests, $1,000,000 to be available each year for ten years.^** 



JUSTICE OF COMPLAINTS REGARDING LOSS OF TAXING POWER 



The question as to the justice of the complaints regarding the loss 

 of taxing power, and the consequent excessive burden of maintaining 

 schools and roads, etc., is not free of difficulty. Senator Heyburn once 

 claimed that in one county in Idaho the taxes paid by private citizens 

 amounted to $190,000, while the government contribution was only 

 $767.87, although the government owned two thirds of the property 

 in the county. "In that county," he said, "the men who are there to 

 represent the government receive, first, the benefit of the law that 

 affects them in their personal and property rights. They receive, next, 

 the benefit of the local law, the state law, that protects these forests 

 from fire. The state of Idaho did thus, pursuant to the laws of the state 

 of Idaho, expend $10 where the government expends $1 in the protec- 

 tion of the government's timber. Upon that vast area, and that re- 

 serve is nearly twice as large as some of the states of the United 

 States, there is just as much and the same necessity for protection of 

 the law administered at the expense of the state and counties as there 

 is elsewhere. There are post offices, villages, public schools, and other 



SOS. Report 696; 62 Cong. 2 sess.: Cong. Bee, May 30, 1912, 7411; Feb. 10, 1913, 

 2957; Feb. 27, 1913, 4137; Mar. 10, 1914, 4629: Stat. 37, 288. See also H. R. 81, 

 H. R. 1667, H. R. 8476; 63 Cong. 1 sess.: H. R. 20994; 62 Cong. 2 sess.: H. R. 

 27012; 62 Cong. 3 sess.: Cong. Bee, Jan. 24, 1913, 1049, 1950: Stat. 39, 358. 



