HOSTILITY TO NATIONAL FORESTS 295 



nient of reserves, that is, the establishment of reserves within reason- 

 able boundaries, properly and wisely administered, is a good thing 

 for that country and for the country as a whole." 



One conservation writer concludes that Colorado is now friendly 

 to the reserves, because the people of northern Colorado petitioned 

 Congress for a law permitting the President to add a half million 

 acres to one of the Colorado forests. Only three years before this, 

 however, the legislature of Colorado had adopted a memorial to Con- 

 gress strongly protesting against the reserves. It will be remembered 

 that when the question of the disposition of the forfeited railroad 

 grant in Oregon was up in Congress, certain representatives of Oregon 

 expressed "unalterable opposition" to the creation of any more 

 reserves. ^^ It seems that the hostility which led to the withdrawal of 

 the President's power in 1907 has not disappeared entirely, for in 

 1910, the section forbidding him to create national forests in the six 

 northwestern states was reenacted, and in 1912, the state of California 

 was added to the list.^* In the fall of 1912, Gilford Pinchot sent out 

 2000 questionnaires to representative individuals in the western states, 

 asking their opinion as to the value of the forests. Of the 1500 replies 

 received, 90 per cent were claimed to be favorable to the reserves. ^"^ 



Other illustrations might be given, but enough has been said to indi- 

 cate that general statements are misleading, if not meaningless. It 

 would probably be safe to say, however, that in general the people 

 of the West are gradually abandoning their hostility to the national 

 forests. Since 1910, following the Ballinger row and the dismissal of 

 Pinchot from the Forest Service, Mr. Henry Graves was appointed 

 chief forester, and his administration was far more acceptable to 

 western people, for some reason. Even Senator Heyburn once ex- 

 pressed his belief in "the fairness and justice of the new regime.^** 



It might perhaps be worth noting that some states have generally 

 been less hostile than others. Thus, Utah and California have been 

 less hostile than Oregon, Washington, and Colorado, probably be- 

 cause irrigation is more important in the first-named states. The 



23 Am. Forestry, July, 1917, 399: Outlook, May 3, 1913, 9. 



2* Stat. 36,848; 37,497. 



25 Conff. Bee, June 17, 1913, 2066. 



^^Cong. Rec, Mar. 8, 1910, 2894; Feb. 4, 1911, 1958. 



