Conservation Commission 169 



CONSTITUTIONAL PROHIBITION 



The present provision of article VII of the Constitution which 

 was enacted* in 1894 reads as follows: 



" Forest Preserve. — Section 7. The lands of the State, now 

 owned or hereafter acquired, constituting the forest preserve as 

 now fixed by law, shall be forever kept as wild forest lands. They 

 shall not be leased, sold or exchanged, or be taken by any corpora- 

 tion, public or private, nor shall the timber thereon be sold, re- 

 moved or destroyed." 



It was adopted when conditions were much different from what 

 they are today. 



During the two decades since that provision was adopted im- 

 portant economic, industrial and administrative changes have 

 taken place. At that time there was but a slight appreciation of 

 the importance of scientific forestry; there was not a single 

 American school of forestry, and probably not more than five pro- 

 fessional foresters in the whole country. The forests were then 

 generally considered as something the maximum quantity of which 

 was fixed, and not capable of reproduction or increase by growth. 

 The area included has increased from 720,744 acres to more than 

 1,800,000 acres ; our population has grown from 6,000,000 to 

 9,000,000 people. It is, therefore, apparent that the prohibition 

 was made at a time when there was but 40 per cent, of the present 

 area and 60 per cent, of the present population, and when the 

 quantity of material affected was but a small part of the whole. 

 However, at the present time, the timber on State land is a large 

 portion of our total forest resources. It is estimated that the 

 amount of standing timber in the Forest Preserve counties in 

 1894 was approximately 40,000,000,000 feet, board measure, and 

 that this quantity has decreased until at present there is not over 

 25,000,000,000 feet. It is estimated that in 1895 approximately 

 4,000,000,000 feet, or 10 per cent, was owned by the State, while 

 now the stumpage on State land is approximately 8,000,000,000 

 f.eet, or over 30 per cent, of the total in the Forest Preserve 

 counties, or 20 per cent, of the whole stumpage of the State. Dur- 



* An amendment was adopted November 4, 1913, providing that three per centum could by 

 authority of the Legislature be used for water storage purposes. 



