11 



And Secretary Lamar, in 1885, repeating his recommendations in 1886 

 and 1887 : 



Tlie subject of the x>rescrvatiou of timber ou the Goverumeut lands lias boon suf^- 

 gested to Congress repeatedly in tlio reports of my predecessors. Perhaps its frequent 

 repetition lias rendered it commonplace, until it lias come to be recognized as a part 

 of routine report. Its importance justifies its repetition. That the timber is rapidly 

 disappearing is an indisputable fact. Much is wasted and destroyed. Its effect on 

 rain-falls, the flow of our rivers, and the healthful character of climate are subjects 

 worthy of consideration. Its importance and necessity for agricultural, domestic, 

 and mechanical uses requires no portrayal. Good government, while not forgetful 

 of the present, should use some care for the future. Both on account of its present 

 importance and its future necessity, this subject is worthy of your thought. 



And further, speaking of the timber act of 1878 : 



Its enactment was suggested, doubtless, by the fact that settters in a new country, 

 surrounded by woodland, could not and would not suffer in a rigorous climate for 

 want of fuel and shelter ; that the necessary industries of a frontier would not submit 

 to the pinchings of a famine in the midst of abundance. But while it was necessary 

 to recognize the inevitable, the recognition was not proiierly guarded, and waste and 

 greedy speculation seems to have resulted from the law. 



Any timber for the uses named in the statute may be cut, under its provisions, by 

 any resident of the Territory on any mineral lands of the Government, in the Territory 

 of his residence, without compensation. Individual avarice and corporate greed, 

 thus invited, with hasty eagerness, vie in accepting the bounty, and unless checked 

 by wholesome modifications of the law, will soon cause all the mineral lands to be 

 stripped of their forests. Railroads pass through many of the Territories ; along their 

 routes wealthy companies have been organized, mills erected, and the most valuable 

 timber accessible is being rapidly cut off. That which is " every one's property is no 

 one's care," and waste and extravagance are the natural consequence of negligent 

 legislation. 



The last report of the Commissioner of the Land OfO.ce (1887) contains 

 a chapter illustrative of the manner in which a small minority has been 

 for a long time defrauding the nation unchecked. Any citizen who feels 

 himself a part of the great government ^' of the people, for the people, 

 by the people " will do well to ponder over these pages of disgrace. 



Such is the moral aspect of our present conditions in regard to the 

 land laws and to the reasons for a change in our forest policy. The or- 

 ganic reasons are those which compel us to consider the forest cover of 

 the mountains as of more importance than merely to supply material 

 for the present. 



Under existing conditions not only is it made difficult for the resi- 

 dent population to supply itself with the needed lumber in an honest 

 way, but the danger of doing so in contravention of the law entails an 

 enormous needless waste. Acres of timber are felled in anticipation of 

 possible use, and rot on the ground, because their haulage may become 

 too risky, or the depredator finds it difficult to dispose of the property, 

 and so it is left to furnish food to the ever-recurring annual fires, which 

 destroy also not acres but miles of standing timber, and no legal dis- 

 position of the burnt timber may be made. 



That those who may cut timber legally on mineral lands, or home- 

 steads, or timber entries on the Pacific slope have no interest except to 



