8 



well as of the Pacific coast region, wliich should have been included in 

 this discussion ; whether a change from the present policy in regard to 

 the remaining public domain would not better answer the purposes of 

 the community at large — these questions now call for deliberate inves- 

 tigation. 



That this need of a change of poUcy exists, especially in regard to the 

 timber lands occupying the mountain regions of the Eocky Mountains 

 and the Pacific slope, has been claimed and urged for many years by 

 competent officers as well as by well-informed citizens. 



The reasons brought forward for such a change in regard to the Gov- 

 ernment timber lands are partly of an organic, partly of a moral char- 

 acter. 



In the present classification of lands, special regard to the existence 

 of timber on the land is only given in Oahfornia, Oregon, Nevada, and 

 Washington Territory, where timber land not fit for cultivation may be 

 sold in tracts of IGO acres, to any one person, at $2.50 per acre (act June 

 3, 1878), forbidding, however, the purchase for jmrposes of speculation, 

 the land only to apply to the exclusive use and benefit of the purchaser, 

 and the title not to inure to a third person. It is well known that this 

 act has not been of much practical value, and does not furnish relief to 

 the settlers for whom it was designed. Under this act nearly 1,000,000 

 (986,158) acres have been sold and are held by large corporations 

 mostly. 



The valuable timber lands in the Southern States have been mostly 

 disposed of at private sales for $1.25 per acre, under the act of June 22, 

 1876, by which the public land policy, which had been stated to be that 

 of holding the laud for actual settlers, was repudiated. In Alabama 

 this avowed policy sustained another blow from the act of March 3, 

 1883, by which the distinction of mineral lands was wiped out j and 

 thus the door was opened for speculators, who have not failed to take 

 advantage of the chance, and have bought many millions of acres of 

 valuable timber for a small price. 



lu the Eocky Mountain States and Territories, as well as in all other 

 parts of the United States, all bona fide residents are permitted (act 

 June 3, 1878) to fell and remove for building, agriculture, mining, or 

 other domestic purposes, timber or other trees on the public lands which 

 are mineral and subject to mineral entry only, and on the land entered 

 under homestead acts, and they are also allowed to clear for the pur- 

 pose of cultivation and improvements only, not for sale, before the 

 patent accrues to them, any timber on their entries. 



In addition to the grants of right of way and the land grants of alter- 

 nate sections under the general right of way act and other acts to aid 

 in construction of railroads, the railroad comi)anies are allowed " to 

 take from the public lands adjacent to the line of said road the timber 

 necessary for the construction thereof," this right to cease at the expi- 

 ration of five years after location, and, of course, after construction. 



