589 



tion as to the amount of money that has, been paid into the State 

 treasury by the forest commission. 



Now, in regard to what has been done by the commission in the 

 way of legislation, a very full statement has been made by Mr 

 Knevals as to what has been undertaken to be accomplished and what 

 has been accomplished in the way of procuring legislation on behalf 

 of the forests. It is to be regretted that very much of the legisla- 

 tion which was recommended has not been carried out and that very 

 much of the legislation which ought to have found its way upon the 

 statute books has been, for one cause or another, defeated. That is 

 not the fault of the forest commission. In looking through the 

 evidence it will be found that the measures^ recommended by them 

 have been at any rate salutary and necessary. It will be found in 

 addition to that fact that the measures that are upon the statute books 

 relating to the forests for the last three or four years that have been 

 recommended by the forest commission, have been found useful and 

 salutary measures and that it has performed its whole duty in the way 

 of recommending legislation and that the legislation has been highly 

 beneficial to the forests of the State. And in still another way the 

 forest commission has been an exceedingly useful body and that is by 

 calling the attention of the people of this State to the situation of 

 affairs with regard to the great northern forests, to the necessity for 

 its preservation and to measures which ought to be taken by the 

 people of the State of New York for the purpose of preserving those 

 forests. The great proportion ox^Snt has been done in the way of 

 awakening the public sentiment in that regard, has been done through 

 the action of the forest commission and through the agitation of the 

 necessity for an adequate protection of the forests. Those are a few 

 things that have been accomplished by the forest commission. 



It is suggested that the foresters have not all been engaged 

 during the entire time and that in Lewis county, where Commissioner 

 Ba'sselin and Warden Garmon reside, there are no State lands to be 

 looked after, although there is a forester appointed to look after the 

 lands in that locality. During the brief time while counsel was pre- 

 senting his views before the committee, I had an examination made of 

 the books here, the reports of the commission, showing the quantity 

 of State land in the different localities and find that Forester Kline, 

 who has charge in the district of Lewis, Herkimer and Hamilton, has 

 a total of 34,548 acres of State lands io look after, namely: In Lewis, 

 9,948; Herkimer, 15,000 out of 23,000 in the county; Hamilton, 10,000, 

 making a total of very nearly 35,000 acres. I hope that very many of 

 the other statements of the counsel are more accurate and based upon 



