CREATION AND ORGANIZATION 11 



Further Work Under the Act. The office of 

 Commissioner of Forestry gradually enlarged the 

 scope of its duties and functions. Five years later, 

 due to the ever-increasing importance of the sub- 

 ject, a distinct division, the Division of Forestry, 

 was established in the Department of Agriculture. 

 The duties and powers of this Division were "to de- 

 vote itself exclusively to such investigations of the 

 subject as would tend to the fullest development 

 of the resources of the country in that respect, to 

 discover the best methods of managing and pre- 

 serving our waning forests and to maintain in all its 

 bearings the universal interest involved in that in- 

 dustry." 



In 1881 an agent of the Department was 

 sent to Europe to study the work of forestry 

 there. In 1882 the American Forestry Congress 

 was organized. This organization had for its ob- 

 ject the discussion and dissemination of the import- 

 ant facts of forestry, and while strictly a private 

 body, had a considerable influence in later years in 

 educating the people to the needs of forestry and 

 in helping to establish a rational forest policy in 

 the United States. Its first meeting took place in 

 Cincinnati. At a second meeting held the same 



