FIFTH NATIONAL CONSERVATION CONGRESS 329 



"In 1876, $3,000 was appropriated to, employ a competent man to investi- 

 gate timber conditions in the United States, and on June 30, 1886, an act 

 was approved creating a Division of Forestry in the Department of Agricul- 

 ture. On July 1, 1901, this Division became the Bureau of Forestry, which, 

 in turn, under the act of February 1, 1905, became the Forest Service. 



"With the increasing realization that the Nation's forest resources must 

 be protected, and with the immense growth of irrigation interests in the West, 

 the necessity for retaining permanent Federal control over selected forest 

 areas was recognized by a brief section inserted in the act of March 3, 1891 

 (36 Stat. 1095), which authorized the President to establish forest reserves, 

 now called National Forests. The first exercises of this authority was in 

 the creation of the Yellowstone Park Timber Land Reserve, proclaimed by 

 President Harrison March 30, 1891. The mere creation and setting apart of 

 forest reserves, however, without provision for their use, was both in- 

 effectual and annoying to local interests, dependent upon their resources. 

 Consequently the Secretary of the Interior, in 1896, requested the National 

 Academy of Sciences to recommend a national forest policy. This resulted 

 in the passage of the act of June 4, 1897 (30 Stat. 11), under which, with 

 subsequent enactments, National Forests are now administered." 



ADMINISTRATIVE POLICY 



The general policy laid down for the Forest Service is well expressed in a 

 letter of the Secretary of Agriculture to the Forester, dated February 1, 1905, 

 from which the following excerpt is taken : 



"In the administration of the forest reserves it must be clearly borne in 

 mind that all land is to be devoted to its most productive use for the per- 

 manent good of the whole people, and not for the temporary benefit of indi- 

 viduals or companies. All the resources of forest reserves are for use, and 

 this use must be brought about in a thoroughly prompt and business-like 

 manner, under such restrictions only as will insure the permanence of these 

 resources. The vital importance of forest reserves to the great industries 

 of the Western States will be largely increased in the near future by the con- 

 tinued steady advance in settlement and development. The permanence of 

 the resources of the reserves is therefore indispensable to continued pros- 

 perity, and the policy of this department for their protection and use will 

 invariably be guided by this fact, always bearing in mind that the conserva- 

 tive use of these resources in no way conflicts with their permanent value." 



FOREST LAWS CONSTITUTIONAL 



From time to time attacks have been made on the powers granted the De- 

 partment of Agriculture by Congress, on the validity of rules established by the 

 Department, and on the constitutionality of acts of Congress withdrawing lands 

 from settlement without the consent of the State wherein they are located. The 

 Supreme Court of the United States has passed upon these questions, sustaining 

 the acts of Congress and rules and regulations made and promulgated thereunder . 

 United States v. Grimaud, 330 U. S. 506, and Light v. United States, 320 U. S. 

 533, are illustrative. 



It can therefore be assumed without further discussion that the chief ques- 

 tion now open for consideration is one of public policy. Is it better for the public 

 that this vast resource, unquestionably belonging to all, be turned over to the 



