FORESTRY MOVEMENT IN UNITED STATES. 41 1 



be kept permanently as such. We have, then, three 

 government offices, organically disconnected, albeit 

 working in harmony as far as possible, intrusted 

 with the forestry interests of the federal govern- 

 ment. It is hoped that only a short time will elapse 

 before logic will have its day, unity will be estab- 

 lished, and a forest administration under the Bureau 

 of Forestry will be inaugurated. 



Curiously, too, we find that in one of our outlying 

 possessions, the Philippine Islands, we are farther 

 progressed in establishing a proper forest policy 

 than at home. Here the Spanish Government had 

 long ago established a forestry bureau to super- 

 intend the exploitation of the public timber lands. 

 The United States fell heir to the lands, some 20 

 or 30 million acres, and to the bureau. By good 

 fortune the administration of this bureau came into 

 the hands of an army officer who had for some 

 years interested himself in the forestry question, 

 and under his efficient guidance the management 

 of this part of the public domain promises soon to 

 be on a rational basis. 



We see then that the Federal Government has 

 made a fair beginning toward establishing a definite 

 forest policy, that a few states have also entered 

 upon more or less definite plans to advance a state 

 policy or secure private interest, and that the num- 

 ber of private owners who contemplate the advisa- 

 bility of practising forestry on their properties is 

 rapidly growing. 



