6 THE BOOK OF FORESTRY 
also exercised the right of withdrawal by setting aside 
22,000,000 acres of the best timber land that was owned 
by the nation. The best and most accessible timber land 
had already been sold for trifling sums taken up under 
the homestead and other land laws or given away so that 
lands then in the hands of the Government were largely 
confined to higher elevations and were more or less in- 
accessible. 
This withdrawal aroused considerable feeling in the 
West. The Government for years had been lavish with 
Jand; millions of acres had been given to railway and 
wagon road companies. Large tracts of valuable farm 
Tand had been obtained fraudulently, being listed as 
swamps. Lumbermen had cut timber from land owned 
by the people the same as if they owned it and sheep- 
herders and cattlemen had grazed their herds so long 
upon the open ranges of the public domain that they 
regarded this ‘ight to pasture as truly theirs. 
To see this land withdrawn from public use aroused 
their ire and much of the opposition to the national 
forest policy which is still found in parts of the West 
is owing to the fact that the Government foresters insist 
that land owned by all the people shall be used for the 
benefit of all the people and not to the advantage alone 
of the local lumberman or ranchman. 
Uncle Sam’s Woodlot—When Colonel Roosevelt be- 
came president the withdrawals increased enormously 
and at present Uncle Sam’s woodlot contains 165,000,000 
acres divided into 155 national forests worth over two 
billion dollars. Since forestry means use, this enormous 
area of forest land is being managed in such a way that 
the present generation can get the good of the Govern- 
ment-owned forests and yet they can be passed on to the 
next generation in good condition. 
