294 UNITED STATES FOREST POLICY 



a forest ranger, but did not give him enough of the road, whereupon 

 the ranger pulled a revolver and commenced shooting at him. These, 

 Heyburn declared, were "merely little instances of the manner of 

 administration.^^ 



THE real; attitude of the west 



Perhaps the question may be raised as to the real attitude of the 

 West toward the national forests in recent years — Are the people in 

 \^estern states still generally hostile, or have they become reconciled 

 to the reservation policy .f* 



To this question it is difficult to give a general answer. Certainly 

 the attitude of the people varies with the different states, counties, and 

 communities, as well as with individuals. Much of the evidence on the 

 subject is conflicting, anyhow. It is commonly asserted that the West 

 has finally come to look with favor on the forests ; yet, even in recent 

 years, some western politicians have staked their political hopes on a 

 record of hostility, and have won. Senators Heyburn and Dubois of 

 Idaho always represented opposite sides of the question, and both 

 seemed to feel assured of popular support. So, in later years, Hum- 

 phrey and Bryan of Washington represented opposite views ; and 

 other similar examples might be given. Senator Warren attributed his 

 defeat in one election to a speech he made in Congress in favor of 

 ceding the forest reserves to the states. On the other hand, Congress- 

 man Taylor of Colorado once claimed that three representatives from 

 Colorado had failed of reelection because they failed to get some of 

 the Colorado reserves opened to settlement. 



Senator Smoot of Utah said not many years ago : "The approval 

 of the work of this service on national forests by the great body of the 

 people, and particularly by the western people whom it most affects, 

 has grown steadily until it is probably more general and more em- 

 phatic than the popular approval of the work of any other Federal 

 agency." Heyburn and Borah of Idaho would never for a minute have 

 admitted any such statement as this ; yet Mondell, a pretty consistent 

 opponent of the forest reserves, stated recently : "The people in the 

 Mountain States, in the main, believe that the reasonable establish- 



^^Cong. Bee, Mar. 8, 1910, 2893: Forestry and Irrigation, Aug., 1908, 445. For 

 a similar story told by Senator Carter, see Cong. Bee, Feb. 26, 1909, 3233. 



