40 FOURTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



sixteen counties in which our forest preserve lies. These lands are detached, 

 widely separated, small parcels surrounded by private holdings, difficult to 

 protect, most, if not all of them having been lumbered. It would be wise 

 to dispose of these parcels of land by sale, the proceeds to be used to purchase 

 land within the Blue Line, or to exchange them for equally valuable lands 

 inside the park limits, and thereby consolidate our holdings. Under the 

 Constitution, this cannot now be done. To us there appears no good busi- 

 ness reason why the Commission should not have this authority. To 

 exchange or sell these lands would be that which any prudent man would 

 do with his own property under like conditions. 



Forests, if rightly used and managed, perform for the people certain 

 definite and important offices. The more important ones may be enu- 

 merated as follows: 



They constitute a home and breeding place for game animals and birds; 

 they protect the source of water supply and regulate, to a great extent, the 

 continued and even flow of water. By protecting the water supply, fish-life 

 is sustained, pure water is insured, the soil better irrigated and made more 

 productive. Woods help to regulate the temperature, and, it is believed, 

 have an appreciable effect in increasing rainfall in certain localities. They 

 act as wind-breaks; they add oxygen to the air and purify it. One of their 

 most important offices is to furnish wood for all the thousands of purposes 

 for which wood is used. For the health and enjoyment of man they form 

 the most complete panacea for human ills and the most perfect place for 

 recreation known. They are Nature's great sanitariums. These are some 

 of their principal offices. For these purposes our forests should be managed 

 and used. If we fail to use them for all these things, a loss to the people 

 follows. If we fail to preserve them, according to history in such cases, 

 disaster follows. In our case, both future and present generations would 

 bear the loss, but the present would be disgraced. The State now has nearly 

 1,700,000 acres of woodland. How are we using it? The question is easily 

 answered. We are using it better then ever before, because we are pro- 

 tecting it from man's rapacity. We are not protecting it sufficiently from 

 fire. We are giving it such protection as we can under prevailing condi- 

 tions and with means at hand, yet that is inadequate. No protection is 

 good enough except perfect protection. 



