6S GOVERNMENT CONTROL. 



of this common ownership theory. Property in primitive life is con- 

 fined to possessions in hand; so It is yet with wild things. These are 

 still incapable of private ownership and may be taken wherever found. 

 This is with us limited by the doctrine of trespass. You may raise a 

 trout from the egg, but the taker from a boat or public place, or from 

 any neutral ground, is the owner. This is not so with a cow or horse. 

 The use in common of our public forests is another survival of primi- 

 tive socialism. The results of this system are at first not unfavorable 

 to the general public. 



With increasing wealth, it becomes more and more unfair in its 

 operation. Besides this, the pasture is of less value than the timber, 

 which its use threatens. It is of less value than the water supply. It 

 is of less value than the valley lands threatened by the torrents forest 

 pasturing finally creates. And the end of it all is the extinction of the 

 mountain pasture itself, as in France, Spain, North Africa and Asia 

 Minor. Thus common pasture in forests destroys far greater values 

 and finally destroys the pasture. 



In a general way experience uniformly and everywhere is against 

 pasture in the forests for the highest and best interest of the com- 

 munity. Our unregulated pasturage in public mountain forests is un- 

 fair, injurious and immoral. It should be everywhere ended. In the 

 Sierra Nevada there is a condition which justifies investigation with 

 a view to determining whether there is not a district in which reg- 

 ulated pasturage, with payment to the public for such use, could be per- 

 mitted without an injury greater than its returns. 



In that range there is an alpine district containing extensive natur- 

 al pastures. They are often above the timber belt and nearly all above 

 any commercial timber. It is worthy of careful examination to learn 

 whether a limited amount of stock only allowed to enter at the sea- 

 son when the grasses can seed themselves and hold their own is not 

 compatible with the safety of the forests and of the water-sheds. 



Sheep probably derive the most benefit by summering in the moun- 

 tains, both as to their health and their wool product. These animals, 

 however, are the ones that do the greatest damage to the forests and 

 water-sheds. Sheep herders are also the class that do the most damage 

 by fire. They are, in fact, the most difficult men to deal with we find 

 In the mountains. Force alone controls them. Pasturage in forests Is 

 a delicate question to deal with and can best be dealt with by restricted 

 experiments with careful water measurements, study of water delivery 

 and forest examination before and after pasturage. 



