Arizona republican., 1899-12-28
COULDN'T AGREE
A Conference Regarding Northern
 Forest Reserves.

conference, agitation and mental tur
 noil. What will result from it, if any, i thing, cannot be foretold.
 ] Apart from the discussion of state
 hood and other matters of general in- l terest to the territory, given promi
 hence by the presence of the distin-
 guished guests now in the city, the
 subject of forest preservation and the | permitting of cattle or sheep, or both, 1 to graze on the forest reserve. was a
 problem that engaged the attention all day, of many conscientious and ] representative men whose ideas and opinions are as widely distant as the poles.
 l In order to get yesterdays transac- ! tions properly before the reader short | synopsis of preceding events will be explanatory. To begin with, all right minded persons familiar with the sit uation believe in forest preservation. | The people living in the central and southern parts of the territory are ! fully convinced that the grazing of stock on the forest reserves is not only detriment to the forest itself and the means of lessening the water storage of that region, but it also augments the troubles which the irrigationists of the south have to overcome. The l, interior department after due consid- eration therefore issued a ruling ex- cluding all grazing of stock on these reserves A wall went up from the sheep men of the north and in ten days such representations were made as resulted in again granting permits to the sheep men. Meanwhile Dele gate Wilson prepared a bill which he introduced, taking the matter out of the hands of the interior department and providing for the opening of the reservations by congressional enact ment. This move was destined to cut the people of this section off at the pockets and take snap judgment against them.
 It resulted in the holding of public meetings in this valley protesting against the action of Delegate Wilson By this time a party of distinguished gentlemen, including Hon. Binger Hermann, commissioner of the gen eral land office, was rolling away to- ward the territory and Phoenix, the capital.
 The northern stockmen feeling that their southern neighbors were nisin- formed and knowing that the matter would be brought before the corn-7is- i sioner on his arrival here, sent com mittee consisting of Max Salzman of Williams and, E. S. Gosney, M J. | Riordan, Tom E. Pollock and David Babbitt of Flagstaff, to Phoenix to confer with the valley interests and if possible find some compromise on the issues, before the matter was present. ed to MT. Hermann.
 That committee arrived here on | Tuesday nights delayed train Yes terday afternoon they met with the 1 members of the forest reserve associa- | tion. After discussion, three of the l northern men. Messrs. Gosney, Rior- | dan and Salzman. were selected to | confer with Messrs. J. E. Bark, w. J. ! Murphy and J. K. Doolittle. represent l ing the valley people, with instruc- tions to reach an understanding if |! possible and report at the board Of l trade rooms at o'clock D. m.
 The stand taken by the visitors in | the conference was a denial of the | destruction of the forests by grazing | herds and focks and on the contrary, | the contention that sheep and cattle i grazing under proper restrictions is a | means of prevention of forest fires, the | great enemy of the forest.
 They asserted it to be untrue that | the sheep eat off all vegetation, leav- | ing the ground bare and dusty and ! subject to the formation of gullies through which storage waters find an avenue of escape. They denied that the soil was of a nature to produce this result even if the ground were bare or that that region furnished any noticeable supply of water for the southern streams, and maintained that the shortage of the last year or two was entirely ow ing to a decreased rainfall. Lastly, they asserted that the main body of the reservations was north of the di- ] vide and that of the 100000 head of sheep grazing in the north. not tO eX- ! ceed 10000 of them found pasture in i the watershed of the southern streams. |
 The Phoenix committee then asked | the northern committee if they came | down prepared to compromise. and | they said they were anxious to do so. | The Phoenix committee then offered ! the following petition which was re- jectcd:
 ''We hereby petition the Hon. Secrc- tary of the Interior not to issue per. mits for the purpose of grazing sheen upon those portions of the different for est reserves, whi ,h drain their waters into the Salt, Gila and Verde rivers, until such time as the department can make full and co1plete investigation