THE AMERICAN FORESTS 861 



mostly from thieves who are wealthy and steal 

 timber by wholesale. They have so long been 

 allowed to steal and destroy in peace that any 

 impediment to forest robbery is denounced as a 

 cruel and irreligious interference with " vested 

 rights," likely to endanger the repose of all 

 ungodly welfare. 



Gold, gold, gold ! How strong a voice that 

 metal has ! 



" O wae for the siller, it is sae preva'lin' ! " 



Even in Congress a sizable chunk of gold, care- 

 fully concealed, will outtalk and outfight all the 

 nation on a subject like forestry, well smothered 

 in ignorance, and in which the money interests of 

 only a few are conspicuously involved. Under 

 these circumstances, the bawling, blethering ora- 

 torical stuff drowns the voice of God himself. 

 Yet the dawn of a new day in forestry is break- 

 ing. Honest citizens see that only the rights of 

 the government are being trampled, not those 

 of the settlers. Only what belongs to all alike 

 is reserved, and every acre that is left should be 

 held together under the federal government as a 

 basis for a general policy of administration for 

 the public good. The people will not always be 

 deceived by selfish opposition, whether from lum- 

 ber and mining corporations or from sheepmen 

 and prospectors, however cunningly brought for- 

 ward underneath fables and gold. 



Emerson says that things refuse to be misman- 



