New York Forest Commission. 435 



the non-payment of taxes by the owners had become pos- 

 sessed of 600,000 acres. 



In 1884, the comptroller was authorized to employ 

 "such experts as he may deem necessary to investigate 

 and report a system of forest preservation". The re- 

 port of a commission of four members was made in 

 1885, but the legislation proposed was antagonized by 

 the lumbermen's interests. The legislature finally 

 passed a compromise bill, which the writer had drafted at 

 the request of Senator Lowe, entitled "An act establish- 

 ing a forest commission, and to define its powers, and 

 for the preservation of forests", the most comprehensive 

 legislation at that time. 



The original forest commission, appointed under the 

 act of 1885, was superseded in 1895, by the commission 

 of fisheries, game, and forests, which brought allied in- 

 terests under the control of a single board of five mem- 

 bers appointed by the Governor for a term of five years. 

 Finally, in 1903, the commission was changed to a single 

 commissioner. 



Here, then, for the first time on the American con- 

 tinent, had the idea of State forestry, management of 

 State lands on forestry principles, taken shape; a new 

 doctrine of State functions had gained the day. Not 

 only was the commission charged to organize a service, 

 with a "chief forester" and "underforesters", to admin- 

 ister the existing reserve according to forestry princi- 

 ples, but also from the incomes to lay aside a fund for 

 the purchase of more lands to constitute the State forest 

 preserve. Unfortunately, instability of purpose, the 

 characteristic of democracy, spoiled the dream of the 

 forester. Both, commission and chief forester were, of 



