67 



CHAPTER XI. 



GOVERNMENT CONTROL REQUIRED TO ABATE EVILS 



I'he only true and permanent solution of the question 

 of pasture or settlement of private holdings within forest reservations 

 Is expropriation of them by the government. This is what we must 

 work for. Expropriation of private holdings in the forest reserves 

 is a comparatively small question in Southern California. It is a large 

 question in the Sierra Nevadas. A person has, under our present laws, 

 a right to use land to which he has title wherever it may be. Access 

 to it is a part of the right of use. The only limit to this right is that 

 its exercise shall not damage others. In the forests such a damage 

 from pasturage could reasonably be considered to have four forms: 



1st. — Destruction to others and to the public lands by Are spread- 

 ing out of private lands. 



2nd. — The pollution of springs and streams. 



3rd. — The damage by diminished water supply. 



4th. — The damage incurred from increased torrent action. 



The practical question is who would bring the injunction suits to 

 prevent injury, or damage suits to pay for injuries done. The choice 

 lies between the Attorney-General or organized societies. It must be 

 assumed also that the courts would take some time in accepting and 

 applying efficiently this doctrine. It has been so applied in Switzer- 

 land, but with the aid of very severe laws against the use of private or 

 communal forest lands in such way as to threaten the community with 

 Injury. The shortest and safest road for us is expropriation of pri- 

 vate holdings. We can, however, use and continuously use the other 

 more tedious legal remedy for immediate protection against greed and 

 InjusticQ. 



Along the fringe of civilization, there is always a tendency to re- 

 vert to primitive types of life and to primitive types of government and 

 property holdings. Primitive man was everywhere and is everywhere 

 more or less of a socialist. It may be more strictly accurate to say 

 a communist. Most property and all land is held in common in primi- 

 tive communities. The legal doctrine of "ferae naturae" is a survival 



