Forestry Notes. 



269 



in possession of the valley it will probably make appropriations 

 for the adequate accommodation of travel on a scale similar 

 to those for the Yellowstone National Park, and far greater 

 than this State can ever make. 



■P, T As evidence of the difficulty encountered in prose- 



PuBLic Land . ^ , . / ii- , j 1 



Frauds cutmg offenders agamst the public-land laws, we 



have the fact that no conviction has yet been 

 secured of either Benson or Hyde, although President Roosevelt's 

 administration has been resolutely engaged for considerably above 

 a year upon these matters. It has been more fortunate in Oregon ; 

 four minor parties — Puter, McKinley, Tarpley, and Mrs. Watson 

 — having suffered conviction, and in this downfall the first-named 

 confessed to facts which led to the indictment of two important 

 personages — United States Senator John H. Mitchell, of Oregon, 

 and former Commissioner of Public Lands Binger Hermann, 

 now a Representative in Congress. The cases will not be decided 

 for some time, but the courage and impartiality of the Adminis- 

 tration in bringing to judgment members of its own political party 

 is beyond praise. Rumors of extensive frauds in Idaho and 

 Montana are now current, and the Department of Justice is about 

 to begin investigation. 



American A congress of five hundred delegates, the first of 

 Forestry kind, bringing together the forestry, lumber, 



Congress. grazing, mining, and irrigation interests, under the 

 leadership of forestry, was held January 2-6, 1905. 

 The very unusual honor of an address by the President of 

 the United States was conferred upon it, while his Secretary 

 of Agriculture presided over its deliberations, and many dis- 

 tinguished men attended its sessions. The range of subjects 

 under discussion was wide, but the evident aim of the congress 

 was to bring all the varied interests into co-operation and make 

 forestry methods and work helpful and practical to many business 

 interests and a part of the life of the nation. Secretary Wilson 

 said it was desired that forestry should not be considered outside 

 of general industrial life, or a purely Governmental enterprise. 

 The President's address was one of his best and most effective. 

 It deserves to be read as a whole, but perhaps the following 

 quotation will give the central idea of the speech : " The great 

 significance of this congress comes from the fact that henceforth 

 the movement for the conservative use of the forest is to come 

 mainly from within, not from without ; from the men who are 

 actively interested in the use of the forest in one way or another, 



