FEDERAL FOREST POLICY. 193 



the General Land Office and to tlio receiver in the land office in which such reservation shall he located of his 

 doings in the premises. 



" Upon the recommendation of the Secretary of the Interior, with the approval of the President, after sixty- 

 days' notice thereof, published in two papers of general circulation in the State or Territory wherein any forest 

 reservation is situated and near the said reservation, any public lands embraced within the limits of any forest 

 reservation which, after due examination by personal inspection of a competent person appointed for that purpose 

 by the Secretary of the Interior, shall be found better adapted for mining or for agricultural purposes than for forest 

 usage, may be restored to the public domain. And any mineral lands in any forest reservation which have been or 

 which may be shown to be such, and subject to entry under the existing mining laws of the United States and the 

 rules and regulations applying thereto, shall continue to be subject to such location and entry, notwithstanding any 

 provisions herein contained." 



The law authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to permit the use of timber and stone by 

 bona fide settlers ? miners, etc., for firewood, fencing, buildings, mining, prospecting, and other 

 domestic purposes. It protects the rights of actual settlers within the reservations, empowers 

 them to build wagon roads to their holdings, enables them to build schools and churches, and 

 provides for the exchange of such for allotments outside the reservation limits. The State within 

 which a reservation is located maintains its jurisdiction over all persons within the boundaries of 

 the reserve. 



Under the above enactment, the Commissioner of the General Land Office has formulated 

 rules and regulations for the forest reservations, and a survey of the reserves last proclaimed is 

 being made by the United States Geological Survey, the appropriations for such a survey having 

 been continued for the year 1808; and the date for the segregation of agricultural lands and their 

 return to the public domain open for entry having been deferred. 



The appointment of forest superintendents, rangers etc., although not with technical knowl- 

 edge, to take charge of the reservations marks the beginning of a settled policy of the United 

 States Government to take care of its long- neglected forest lands. 



In this connection it will be interesting to show that the agitation for rational treatment of 

 the public-timber domain is by no means of recent date, but may be said to celebrate this very 

 year its silver jubilee. A quarter century ago exactly the first true forestry bill was introduced 

 by Mr. Haldeman in the Forty-second Congress and was lost. It provided that in the disposal of 

 the public domain the condition be inserted into the patents that 10 per cent of the land shall be 

 kept in timber, or, if not timbered, shall be planted to timber. 



The subjoined table exhibits the long struggle for some kind of legislation,- the failure of the 

 numerous bills introduced, and the inactivity of committees and legislatures. It was originally 

 printed in Bulletin 2 of the Division of Forestry, Department of Agriculture, in 1887, and has been 

 here brought up to date. 



It will be seen that hardly any kind of legislation which could be suggested has been over- 

 looked, from the creation of forest commissions to investigate the subject to providing for fully 

 organized forest administrations and the establishment of forestry schools. 



The earliest action of the General Government having regard to the preservation of timber 

 was in 1799, when Congress appropriated $200,000 for u the purchase of growing or other timber, 

 or of lands on which timber is growing, suitable for the Navy, and for its preservation for future 

 use." The special object of this legislation was to secure a supply of live-oak timber, which was 

 considered peculiarly valuable for shipbuilding, and was in great demand for that purpose, both 

 at home and abroad, while its growth was confined to a limited portion of our territory in the 

 vicinity of the Gulf. Two small islands on the coast of Georgia, containing together about 2,000 

 acres, were purchased under the act of 1799. Another act (Eev. Stat., sec. 24£B)j having 

 the same object in view, was passed in 1817, by which the Secretary of the Navy was directed to 

 cause lands producing live oak or red cedar to be explored, and to have selections made of tracts 

 necessary to furnish for the Navy a sufficient supply of such timbers. Under this act 19,000 acres 

 in Louisiana, which had recently become ours by purchase from France, were reserved. 



Additional enactments were made in 1820 and 1827, by which the selection of lands to be 

 reserved was intrusted to the surveyor of public lands in place of agents appointed by the 

 Secretary of the Navy, and the President was authorized to withhold such lands from sale. 



In 1822 an act was passed (Rev. Stat., sec. 24G0) authorizing the President to employ the 

 land and naval forces, so far as necessary, effectually to prevent the felling or other destruction 



H. Doc. No. 181 13 



