be taken by condemnation and the exact cost of which cannot 

 be foretold. They indicate, however, that the state has been 

 expending the bond issue money at the rate of about $1,100,000 

 a year, and that at the same rate the balance on hand will last 

 a little less than two years, or about the length of time needed 

 to secure legislation for a new bond issue, the necessary ref- 

 erendum to the voters, and the subsequent appropriation by 

 the legislature. 



If, to the area acquired and the appropriations made for land 

 purchase for the Forest Preserve up to January 1, 1917, be 

 added the area and cost of the land thus far purchased or con- 

 tracted for under the bond issue, and if to that sum be added 

 the estimated area and cost of land which may be acquired with 

 the balance of the present bond issue money, we may forecast 

 the following approximate result upon the exhaustion of the 

 present bond issue as follows: 



Acreage Appropriation 



From 1883 to January 1, 1917 1,804,000 $4,000,000 



January 1, 1917, to December 31, 1921, 



purcliased and contracted for 325,000 5,600,000 



January 1, 1922, to December 31, 1923, 



estimated at foregoing rate 110,250 1,900,000 



Approximate Total Adirondack and 

 Catskill Preserves 2,239,250 $11,500,000 



Has this investment been worth while and is it desirable to 

 enlarge it? Yes, decidedly yes. In the first place, the money 

 value justifies it. In the fall of 1916, when the state owned 

 approximately 1,800,000 acres, its holdings which had cost about 

 $4,000,000 were valued at $40,000,000. The state can afford to 

 spend many millions more for land purchase and still be ' ' ahead 

 of the game." But that is not the main argument. The main 

 argument is that the forests must be preserved for the protec- 

 tion of the great public interests dependent upon them; and 

 they can be effectively preserved under present conditions only 

 by bringing them under the protection of the state constitut- 

 tion by state ownership. Trees in the State Forest Preserve 

 cannot be cut. Trees on private land can be cut, and, accord- 

 ing to the Conservation Commission, are being cut from three 

 to five times faster than they are being grown. Forest owners 

 have figured out that under present conditions it does not pay 

 them to replant. Consequently they cut down their trees for 

 immediate needs, leaving the future to the chances of nature 

 or the providence of the government. But nature is not given 

 half a chance and the government must intervene in her be- 

 half. The forests are denuded faster than unaided nature can 

 replace them. If deer or any other game animals are slaugh- 



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