338 Proceedings oe The 



has given generously of his own time and his own 

 money and the Government has helped in a niggardly 

 way. There is now a nursery of trees ready to be 

 planted upon the hillsides of those burnt wastes and 

 we cannot get a few thousand dollars' appropriation 

 to plant the trees. 



Now why is it that such a condition as that can 

 exist? Why is it? I will tell you the reason. It is 

 because we have "Watch Dogs of the Treasury" in 

 Congress who object to large appropriations for for- 

 estry. They can see the vast importance of huge 

 contracts for armor plate and for building fortifications, 

 but they care nothing about protecting our country 

 from destruction by the desert. 



Let us look at the business end of that proposition. 

 There are other things besides bees that have business 

 ends. For a number of years the President of the 

 United States, the Secretary of the Interior and the 

 Commissioner of the General Land Office have been 

 trying to impress upon Congress, without success, the 

 necessity of repealing the Timber and Stone act. I 

 want to give the exact facts. The President, in De- 

 cember, 1902, more than two years ago, called the 

 attention of Congress in the strongest possible lan- 

 guage to the necessity of doing something to stop the 

 frauds and depredations upon the public domain under 

 the Timber and Stone Act. The Secretary of the 

 Interior reiterated his demand, and specifically urged 

 Congress to repeal that law. 



The secretary said in his annual report more than 

 two years ago : 



"The Timber and Stone Act will, if not repealed or 

 radically amended, result ultimately in the complete 

 destruction of the timber on the unappropriated and 

 unreserved public lands." 



