STORY OF OUR NATIONAL FOREST 109 



urged bills in Congress which were violently op- 

 posed, and Secretary Carl Schurz moved vigorously 

 for fire protection but without efficient response 

 from Congress. Public alarm was awakening, how- 

 ever, and the newspaper and magazine press there- 

 after frequently discussed forestry, especially tree 

 culture and fire protection. Appropriations to study 

 forest questions gradually developed from the origi- 

 nal $5,000 in 1872 to $100,000 in 1890. A Division 

 of Forestry was organized in 1881 to study condi- 

 tions, and an agent was sent abroad to observe for- 

 estry work in other lands. 



Then came the "Forest Reserve Act/' which 

 made possible all that has happened since and that 

 will happen in future years toward rehabilitation of 

 American forests. It was not a separate act, but 

 passed in 1891 as a rider added to another bill in 

 conference. No special agitation led up to it. The 

 fact is that its tremendous importance was not ap- 

 preciated, nor the prompt and sweeping use which 

 would be made of it suspected. But as an indepen- 

 dent bill it could not possibly have passed any Con- 

 gress of that period. 



Leading up to it from 1876, Representative 

 Fort of Illinois, Secretary Schurz, Senators Cam- 

 eron of Wisconsin, Sherman of Ohio, Miller of New 

 York, and Representatives Converse, Butterworth, 

 Taylor and Sherman of Ohio, Deuster of Wiscon- 

 sin, Hatch of Missouri, Markham and Clunie of 

 California, Joseph of New Mexico, and Holman of 



