406 HEARINGS BEFORE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE. 
And, more than this, its attitude has taken form in the express desire 
upon the part of several of its members to put practical forestry into 
effect upon their own lands under recommendations of the Bureau. 
These three great lines of work—work upon public lands, studies 
of independent problems, and work in cooperation with private own- 
ers—are all three greatly in arrears. The total appropriation of the 
.Bureau for the present year could be expended upon any one of them 
and there would still be urgent work left todo. If the Bureau could 
have put 100 men instead cf 30 men upon its studies of proposed 
reserves, during the past season, the result would have been that a 
correspondingly larger portion of the rapidly disappearing vacant 
public lands would have been reserved for their best use. 
In its studies of independent forest problems, the work of the 
Bureau has been fruitful so far as it has gone, but its amount is piti- 
fully small compared with the urgent work there is todo. And I want 
above all to make it clear that these studies of forest problems are not 
merely academic or scientific, they are aimed at the best solution of 
urgent practical problems and are taken up only upon the basis of an 
actual and widespread need. 
I realize fully that, seen only in the light of the rapid growth of the 
Bureau from a small beginning, the request for an increased appro- 
priation for the coming year may appear questionable. But seen in 
the light of the work that is still to be done, the question before the 
Bureau is, how it may handle work already far beyond its resources. 
The fact that this committee has encouraged Government work in for- 
estry by increased appropriations in the past bas given an impetus not 
only to the Government forest work. It has been the direct and per- 
vading influence in arousing interest in forestry and in instituting 
work in forestry throughout the country. The fact that States are 
taking up forestry, that great lumber companies are taking up forestry, 
and that the general tendency throughout the country is toward the 
preservation of the forests by wise use rather than toward its destruc- 
tion by careless use, is due above all to the forest work of the Gov- 
ernment. If that work receives a check then the national forest move- 
ment will receive a corresponding check, because the national forest 
movement can not yet stand alone. It requires support and in many 
cases it requires. the active cooperation of the Government. 
We are confronted in the United States by forest problems more 
urgent and more far-reaching than those which confront any other 
country. We are far behind other countries, and far behind our need, 
in the solution of national forest problems. So far we have made no 
more than a good start, and it is in my judgment of vital importance 
to the forest interests of the Government and of the private owner 
that that start be maintained, because this country has before it to-day 
not the consideration of forest questions in the abstract, but the direct 
question of how it may save the forests before they are destroyed. 
Mr. Scorr. I should like to call your attention to a statement made 
earlier in your remarks to the effect that you are doing a smaller per- 
centage of private work. 
Mr. Prices. Yes, sir. 
Mr. Scorr. Less now than formerly? 
Mr. Pricr. Yes, sir. 
Mr. Scorr. Does that mean a smaller actual amount of work? 
My. Price. It means a smaller actual amount. 
