Such a system, or lack of system, means that the range is not so much used as wasted by abuse. The Federal Government should have control of the range, whether by permit or lease, as local necessities may determine. The government should part with its title only to the actual homemaker, not to the profit-maker who does not care to make a home. Our prime object is to secure the rights and guard the interests of the small ranchman, the man who ploughs and pitches hay for himself. It is this small ranchman, this actual settler and homemaker, who in the long run is most hurt by permitting thefts of the public land in whatever form.
Optimism is a good characteristic, but if carried to an excess it becomes foolishness.
But there are certain other forms of waste which could be entirely stopped-the waste of soil by washing, for instance, which is among the most dangerous of all wastes now in progress in the United States, is easily preventable, so that this present enormous loss of fertility is entirelv unnecessary. The preservation or replacement of the forests is one of the most important means of preventing this loss. We have made a beginning in forest preservation. We should acquire in the Appalachian and White Mountain regions all the forest-lands that it is possible to acquire for the use of the nation.