10 OTR. 211, U. 8S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
companies. All the resources of the forest reserves are for 
use, and this must be brought about in a thoroughly prompt 
and businesslike manner, under such restrictions only as 
will insure the permanence of these resources. * * * 
You will see to it that the water, wood, and forage of the 
reserves are conserved and wisely used for the benefit of 
the home builder first of all, upon whom depends the best 
permanent use of lands and resources alike. The continued 
prosperity of the agricultural, lumbering, mining, and live- 
stock interests is directly dependent upon a permanent and 
accessible supply of water, wood, and forage, as well as upon 
the present and future use of these resources under business- 
like regulations enforced with promptness, effectiveness, and 
common sense. In the management of each reserve local 
questions will be decided upon local grounds, the dominant 
industry will be considered first, but with as little restriction 
to minor industries as may be possible; sudden changes in 
industrial conditions will be avoided by gradual adjustment 
after due notice, and where conflicting interests must be 
reconciled the question will always be decided from the 
standpoint of the greatest good of the greatest number in 
the long run, 
Lands which are more valuable for agriculture than 
for forestry purposes have been excluded from the 
national forests either by changes in the forest bound- 
aries or by being opened to settlement and entry 
under the forest homestead act of June 11, 1906. The 
act of August 10, 1912, which directed that the na- 
tional-forest lands be classified for the purpose of 
determining those which are chiefly valuable for agri- 
culture, has resulted in practically all agricultural 
lands within the national forests being listed for entry 
in the United States land offices. The greater part 
of the land which has really valuable agricultural 
possibilities has been taken up, and most of what is 
left lies at high altitudes remote from roads, schools, 
villages, and markets, where the winter climate is 
severe and the growing season short. Prospective set- 
tlers will therefore have better chances for success in | 
the immediate vicinity of the forests than in the 
forests themselves. 
Mineral deposits within national forests, except such 
forests aS were purchased under the act of March 1, 
1911, are open to development exactly as on unreserved 
public land unless otherwise provided by special acts 
of Congress. A prospector can go anywhere he chooses 
