Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-02-17
Tie Memorial.

The Memorial.
To the Senate and House of Represent atives
of the United States in Congress as
sembled
Your memoralists, the Chamber of Com
MERGE of the City of st. Paul respectfully
represent: That it appears from the annual
reports of the Secretary of the Interior and
the Commissioner of the General Land
Office for several successive years
last past that the valuable timber lands of
the United States have been rapidly disposed
of without the government receiving ade-
quate compensation therefor; that these
lands, especially on the head waters of the
Mississippi river have been SO lavishly de-
nuded of their timber as to make scarcity
of pine timber imminent, and to injure the
capacity of said river for navigation.
Your memorialists are informed
and believe that the United States still pos
sess several million acres of timber land in
the northern part of Minnesota, including
waste lands that are only fit for bearing
timber, and they deem it important to the
public interest that improved methods be
speedily adopted for the administration of
these lands with view to the production,
preservation and prudent consumption of
timber thereon.
Your memoralists have ascertained that in
several European States whose governments
have for centuries cared for the re-growth
established and maintained at public ex
pense schools for theoretical and practical
instruction in forestry which have proved
eminently useful. There are in Europe
thirty seven schools of forestry; of which
twenty-five are separate and fifteen are con-
nected with agricultural or polytechnic in
stitutions.
Although the United States are by nature
more richly endowed with forests than al
most any other country, there has never been
established in this country, SO far as your
memoralists are informed, any institution
specially designed to promote the science
and practice of forestry. 1t has, however,
come to be the opinion of the most enlight-
ened people of this country that some mea-
sures should be promptly adopted look
ing to a more economical man-
agement of timber lands, and your memoir
ialists believe that one measure towards this
important object might we'll be the endow-
ment by Congress of school of forestry.
They therefore recommend that provision
be made for such an institution, to be located
where it can be the most generally useful.
On account, however, of the extensive timber
land property of the United States
in the limits of the State
of Minnesota, and of the great area
of land on the sources of the Mississippi
which is only adapted to timber growing, it
would seem that Minnesota would be the
most suitable State in which to locate
school of forestry. Your memorialists are
of the opinion that such school should
furnish instruction in the theory and prac-
tice of forestry, substantially after the plan
of the best administered schools of the kind
in Europe, so far az our climate and soil ad-
nit; that the theoretical instructions
should take place mainly at the principal seat
of the school, where also should be grounds
for experimental forestry; and that branch
stations, under charge of the school, should
b maintained in the pine timber regions for
practical forestry; also stations on prairie
lands fol, experimental tree culture suited to
prairie regions.
Believing that such an Institution, liberal
ly endowed and properly conducted,
would at present as we'll as in
the future prove of great prac
tical benefit to the important timber inter-
ests of the Northwest and the various me-
chanical and industrial pursuits depending
thereon; also that it would help to create and
diffuse correct sentiments in respect to the
enforcement of law in regard to timber lands
of the government, your mememoralists re-
specially ask that Congress will donate
300 sections of land to the
State of Minnesota as an en-
dowment of school of forestry,
and that said school be located at the
city of st. Paul, the capital of said State.
Your memorialists would refer to an accom-
panying form of bill as containing some
of the conditions they would like to see
adopted for the inviolability of the proposed
endowment.