12 USE OF THE NATIONAL FORESTS. 



big man can buy many million feet, provided it is a good 

 thing for all the people to let him purchase a large 

 amount, but not otherwise. The local demand is always 

 considered first. There is no chance for monopoly, 

 because the Secretary of Agriculture must by law sell 

 as much or as little as he thinks best, to whom and at 

 whatever price he thinks will best serve the interests of 

 all the people. 



Thus the timber is there, first of all, to be used. The 

 more it is used, the better. Far from being locked up, 

 it is, on the contrary, opened up, and opened up on fair 

 terms to all alike. When it is on the open public domain 

 it is often very hard and sometimes impossible for the 

 small man to get it and hold it, because he is shoved 

 aside by the big timber corporations with which he can 

 not compete. On National Forests the Government 

 holds the timber with a special view to its use by the 

 small user. At the present time nine-tenths of the tim- 

 ber sales on National Forests are for amounts less than 

 $500. 



In 1906 75,000,000 board feet were given away and 

 700,000,000 board feet were sold. 



TO THE USER OF THE RANGE. 



What happens to the range ? Most of the timber land 

 in the West is good range for live stock. This range 

 has to be included in the National Forests, because it 

 goes with the timber and can not be separated from it. 



Is it shut out from use? Quite the contrary. It is 

 grazed by cattle, sheep, and horses just as it always has 

 been. It is one of the resources and is there to be used. 

 At present it is used by about i , 500,000 cattle and horses 



