30 & FORESTRY OF THE MISSISSIPPI] VALLEY. 
the operation *‘ developed” the country and thus increased the value of 
the government land itself. Nothing can be more pernicious in theory 
or practice than this. These lands do not belong to the first settler or 
the first thousand settlers who may come into their vicinity; nor the 
first corporation which may gain a foothold. They belong to the nation, 
which is the trustee for fifty millions of people. A citizen in Maine has 
as much interest in them as a citizen in Kausas or Colorado. 
SPOLIATION OF GOVERNMENT TIMBER. 
In regard to the forest lands still the property of the United States, 
the question has arisen, shall they be protected for the benefit of the 
country and of generations yet to come, or shall they be reduced to 
desert wastes for the private benefit of speculators and corporations ? 
Take the case of the government forest lands in Colorado. Twenty- 
four years ago the slopes of the Rocky Mountains were covered with 
the untouched forests sufficient, if properly cared for, to supply the 
reasonable needs of the settler and miner, as contemplated by the law, 
till the end of time. In the shadow of these forests rose the head- 
waters of the Rio Grande, Platte, and the Arkansas, and the snow in 
the deep woods melting slowly, the rise of the streams was gradual 
and uniform for along period. To-day these mountains are being left 
peeled and bare. The mountain side is being-converted into a bald, 
bleak desert, the springs are drying up, and the Rio Grande, Pl&tte, 
and Arkansas now rise with sudden violence and then sink as suddenly 
in their dry and diminished beds. In other words, the people of Col- 
orado, Kansas, and New Mexico are having inflicted upon them incgleu- 
lable injury, and a wrong is being done which, if not arrested, will affect 
disastrously generations yet unborn. 
In return for this devastation of its property the government receives 
nothing; its magnificent estate is laid waste, and it gains nothing in 
the way of recompense. The land is nominally in market at $2.50 an 
acre in bodies of 160 acres to one individual, but it is not being pur- 
chased to any extent. With a view of aiding the poor settler or needy 
miner, a law was passed some years ago allowing him to take timber 
for domestic use, meaning thereby, evidently, his personal use, for fene- 
ing, firewood, or lumber necessary in the actual construction of his 
mining shaft. The law was certainly liberal enough, and was so liber- 
ally interpreted by the settlers that it was found necessary to send goy- 
ernment agents to the spot to protect the rights of the government; but 
since that period the words ‘domestic use” have been interpreted to mean 
the right of the “party of the first part” to cut timber and sell to other 
parties for their use. Under this ruling there were lying in one mount- 
ain stream in September, 1882, half a million railroad ties, indicating 
by their length that they were intended for the “domestic use” of a 
broad-gauge railroad outside of the limits of Colorado, where the nar- 
row-gauge is the usual standard. This is but one instance. Movable 
