HOSTILITY TO NATIONAL FORESTS 297 



retention of the national forests. The tendency of governmental policy 

 is clearly away from the "laissez-faire" policy and toward government 

 ownership and control at least of certain classes of lands. Further- 

 more, the trend is toward Federal control rather than state control. 

 Also, it is being made clearer each year that the government made a 

 serious mistake in alienating so much of its timber lands. The lumber 

 industry for some time previous to the war had been in a very unsatis- 

 factory condition, that is, private ownership had worked badly, even 

 for those in the industry itself, while the threat of a future shortage 

 of timber is always before the consumers. All this is being brought 

 more and more clearly before the public through government and 

 private investigations ; and the purchase of timber lands under the 

 Weeks Law indicates a purpose of seeking out a remedy, even at 

 great expense. It would be very strange if the government, after going 

 extensively into the purchase of denuded lands, should sell the tim- 

 bered land it already has. 



While it hardly seems likely that the government will soon, or per- 

 haps ever, abandon its great reserves, it should be noted that there 

 are ways in which the reservation policy could be seriously perverted. 

 It will be remembered that the attack on the forests in 1912 took the 

 form of an attempt by the western states to get a larger portion of 

 the proceeds. They now get 25 per cent — which for certain communi- 

 ties is doubtless too high — and have tried to get this raised to 50 

 per cent. Perhaps they will not be successful, but anything in the 

 way of a "pork" grab has some chance of success in Congress, because 

 those to be benefited are very zealous, and the rest of the members are 

 likely to be less interested in defending the public treasury than in se- 

 curing some "pork" of a different kind for their own constituents. If 

 the share given to the western states should be raised to 50 per cent, or 

 perhaps even higher, and the receipts were to increase greatly, as they 

 certainly will in the future, the national forests might be a source of 

 revenue to the West, while the country as a whole might still be hold- 

 ing the sack for the millions it has spent for permanent improvements 

 in the forests, and for the cost of purchases under the Weeks Law. 

 It is possible to imagine a situation in which the West, and perhaps 

 those eastern states in which reserves were being bought up, would be 

 vastly pleased with the reservation policy, while the rest of the coun- 



