44 Fourth Annual Report of the 



for interest and $150,000 for taxes; in other words, the utilization 

 of ripe timber would yield a net annual income of $635,000 over 

 and above all fixed charges. 



We therefore reaffirm our support for the constitutional amend- 

 ment approved by the Legislature of 1913, which would permit 

 the removal of ripe timber, as well as dead and down timber, and 

 the leasing of camp-sites in the Forest Preserve. The latter 

 measure, while yielding a considerable annual revenue, would 

 tend to make the camper a vigilant fire-fighter, for he would be 

 watching his own property as well as the State's. 



The utmost care and precaution, the greatest vigilance in admin- 

 istration, will be required to protect such a plan of forest utiliza- 

 tion against gross abuse. Already there are signs that certain 

 interests not unknown to forest exploitation are willing to take 

 an intelligent advisory part in arranging to reorganize the admin- 

 istration of the State's forestry interests. 



A TRIPARTITE DEPARTMENT 

 The Conservation Commission exercises and administers under 

 one head all the powers, duties, and functions formerly divided 

 among several departments — the Forest, Fish and Game Com- 

 mission, the State Water Supply Commission, the Forest Purchas- 

 ing Board, and the Commissioners of Water Power on Black 

 River — together with new and important additions thereto, not- 

 ably along the line of perfecting " a comprehensive system for the 

 entire State, for the conservation, development, regulation and use 

 of the waters in each of the principal watersheds of the State." 

 The plan of organization is that of a tripartite department, with 

 three divisions each charged with duties relating to one of the 

 three great phases of conservation, to lands and forests, to fish 

 and game, or to inland waters, with three commissioners reviewing 

 and passing upon all the great questions of policy in detail and 

 blending them in one harmonious, progressive whole. 



There are those who would return to the old days when the 

 forests, the fish and game, and the water resources of the State 

 were committed to separate departments, just as there are those 

 who would return to the old days when each few miles of railroad 

 had its separate organization and a distinct entity and was oper- 



