Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-12-06

4 ern public land states. They powerful
] ~ affect the use and disposal Of tn
public lands. They are OF special i'm
portance because they preserve tn,
water supply and the supply OF timbe
for domestic purposes and so promote
! settlement under the reclamation act
/ Indeed they are essential to the wei
| fare of every one of the great interest.
| OF the west.
Forest reserves are created for TIVE
principal purposes. The first is to pre-
serve the water supply. This is theil
most important use. The principal
users Of the water thus preserved arr
irrigation ranchers and settlers, cities
and towns to whom their municipal
water supplies are of the very first i'm
portance users and furnishers of wa
ter power and the users of water fol
domestic, manufacturing mining and
other purposes. All these are directly
dependent upon the forest reserves.
The second reason for which forest
reserves are created is to preserve the
timber supply for various classes Of
wood users. Among the more impOr-
tant of these are settlers under the
reclamation act and other acts, for
whom a cheap and accessible supply
Of timber for domestic uses is absolute
ly necessary; miners and prospectors.
who are in serious danger of losing
their timber supply by fire or through
export by lumber companies when TIM
Der lands adjacent to their mines pass
into private ownership; lumbermen.
transportation companies, builders and
commercial. interests in general.
Although the wisdom of creating for
est reserves is nearly everywhere
heartily recognized, yet in few locali-
ties there has been misunderstanding
and complaint. The following state
ment is therefore desirable:
The forest reserve policy can be Sue
cessful only when it has the full sup
port OF the people Of tile west. 1t cam
not safely and should not in any case
be imposed upon them against their
will. But neither can we accept the
views of those whose only interest in
the forest is temporary, who are anx-
ious to reap what they have not sown
and then move away, leaving desOla-
ton behind them. On the contrary, 1t
Is everywhere and always the interest
Of the permanent settler and the per-
manent business man. the man with
stake in the country, which must be
considered and which must decide.
The making Of forest reserves within
railroad and wagon road land grant
limits will hereafter, as for the past
three years. be SO managed as to pre-
vent the issue under the act of June 4,
1897, of base for exchange or lieu Sc
lection usually called scrip. In all
cases where forest reserves within
areas covered by land grants appear to
be essential to the prosperity of set
tiers, miners or others the government
lands within such proposed forest re-
serves will, as in the recent past, be
from sale or entry pending
the completion of such negotiations
with the owners of the land grants as
will prevent the creation of so called
scrip.
1T was formerly the custom to make
forest reserves without first getting
definite and detailed information as to
he character Of land and timber with
in their boundaries. This method Of
action often resulted in badly chosen
and consequent injustice to
settlers and others. Therefore this adj
adopted the present meth
nj of first withdrawing the land from
disposal, followed by careful examina-
ion on the ground and the preparation |
II detailed maps and descriptions. be- |
ore any forest reserve is created.
1 have repeatedly called attention to |
he confusion which exists in govern |
nent forest matters because the work |
. scattered among three Independent
The United States is the
,nly one Of the great nations in which
he forest work of the government is
lot concentrated under one department |
n consonance with the plainest die
ates Of good administration and COM
non sense. The present arrangement
, bad from every point of view. Merely
o mention 1t is to prove that it should
'e terminated ut once. AS / have re-
'eatedly recommended. all the forest
york OF the government should be con-
entrated in the department Of agricuI-
ure. where the larger part Of that
FORK is already done, where practical
y all OF the trained fOresters Of the
oyernmeEt are employed, where chief
Y in Washington there is comprehen.
i've first hand knowledge of the prob
Ems of the reserves acquired on the
round. where all problems relating to
rowth from the soil are already gath
red and where all the sciences auxil- Il
Try TO forestry are ut hand for prompt
nd effective cooperation. These rea-
Dns are decisive in themselves, but it
hould be added that the great Organi-
atoms of citizens whose interests are
fected by the forest reserves, such as
ne National Live Stock association,
ie National Wool Growers associa-
on, the American Mining congress. II
lie National Irrigation congress and
le National Board OF Trade, have uni
'rmly, emphatically and most of them
'peatedIy expressed themselves in ia
Dr. OF placing all government forest
ork In the department OF agriculture
scatISe of fle macmillan aiapfat ian af II