338 REPORT OF THE FORESTRY COMMITTEE 



neither the desire nor wish to offend either again — at the letter of the law or its 

 spirit. There is no question that within a few years this cause of trouble will be 

 a thing of the past. 



But why delude ourselves ? These withdrawals have but to a limited degree 

 affected either settlement or development of the Western States. They certainly 

 have not affected the production of lumber or price to the consumer. Millions 

 and millions of acres of land are in the hands of manufacturers who, if they 

 could find a market, would be only too glad to increase their facilities for turning 

 it into lumber and other products. The fact is, as those who are advised know, 

 that the production of lumber in the West is in reality far in advance of the 

 consumptive ability of the markets. Causes, both economic and statutory, 

 entirely outside the Forest Service or of its control have largely caused the market 

 conditions of which we complain. The "back-to-the-land" movement has been 

 encouraged in every way, but as yet has not shown very great results. It is not 

 peculiar to this section but is applicable to all parts of the country. Vast areas of 

 land in every Western State are open to settlement or purchase, but they are 

 being settled but slowly and purchased in limited quantities. On any of the 

 Government irrigation projects it is only with extreme difficulty that lands are 

 now being disposed of. Statistics of railroads as to immigrant movement to a 

 number of Western States for the past few years show that the majority of those 

 carried were not farmers or farm-seekers. The vast majority were bound for 

 the cities, looking for work therein or hoping to profit by speculative increase in 

 town lots or other activities of city life. Our homestead laws and regulations 

 thereunder have rendered it well-nigh impossible in the forest section for the 

 homeseeker to secure land under the law, while right across the border Canada and 

 its railroads were offering every inducement for settlers. Our private lands are 

 often held prohibitively high. 



With none of these things has the Forest Service aught to do. Because we 

 are discouraged by failure to grow as fast as we think we should, shall we, instead 

 of seeking the true remedy and trying to correct our failure, let the Forest 

 Service be made to bear all the sins of omission and commission not only of its 

 department but of all other departments? As a remedy for this condition, we 

 are urged to do away with the national forests. Greater folly cannot be conceived. 

 Illustrations are not lacking to prove how a false hue and cry may be raised and 

 people misled to their own injury. 



OLYMPIC NATIONAL FOREST 



IT would be of tremendous service if the history of the throwing open to set- 

 tlement of a large portion of the Olympic National Forest could be in the 

 hands of every citizen of the State of Washington. In 1901,' under an 

 enthusiastic demand to throw a portion open to settlement, and which demand 

 was said to be in behalf of bona fide settlers and homesteaders, 705,600 acres of 

 lands were released. It was urged at that time that business was suffering; that 

 the entire section in which this forest is situated was at a standstill ; that develop- 

 ment was retarded ; that actual settlers were desirous of taking up lands and mak- 



