Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1905-12-02
Small Timber sales on the. Reserves.

! One of the most fruitful of the newer
regulations governing the use of the
products Of the National forest reserves
is the provision which enables the small
users of timber to procure what he needs
promptly. Before this provision was
made every would be purchaser Of tim
bor, regardless Of the amount he desired
was forced to wait for reference of his
application to Washington The for
malities which attended this arrange.
ment under the Law often worked q real
hardship, aud tended to discourage leg
| itimate use Of reserve timber by
small applicants and sometimes to en-
courage its illegitimate use by timber us.
ers Of all classes 1t frequently happen.
ed, for instance, that applications were
made for the use of timber under the
free use privilege by those who were not
entitled to free use, and small users gen.
orally were inclined to avoid dealing
with the Government on account of un.
avoidable formalities.
Except in California, sales of timber
amounting TO less than one hundred dol
lars are now made on the ground by the
forest officers without delay. In Cali
fornia, the advertisement required by
law is the only exception. The purchas.
er is required only to transmit the pur-
chase price to the special fiscal agent, at
Washington, and be may then remove
the timber He is, Of course, assigned
timber which it is most desired to dis
pose of, and is compelled, like all other
purchasers Of timber, to observe strictly
the regulations of the Forest Service,
which are fully explained to him by the
officer in charge Of the sale. There are
very large number of persons who
purchase timber in small quantities,
either for uses not included in the free.
use privilege or for manufacturing at To-
cal mills to supply the demands Of small
agricultural communities. The prompt,
busnesslike consideration which is as
sured them has been welcomed by
them as boon. There are fifty appl-
cants for small quantities Of timber to
one applicant who requires one million
board feet or over
This sort of small business is constant
ly on the increase, both absolutely and
relatively to larger business, and there
can be but little doubt that the regula-
tions on which it is based may be count
ed among the chief causes which have
so much strengthened the sentiment in
favor Of the forest reserves and their
! administrations in the last months.
Rather a striking fact which has devel.
Oped is that simultaneously with ths in.
crease Of small timber sales there has
come decrease in the relative number
of applications for free use The legal
barriers in the way Of legitimate use of
timber by those who most need it have
been removed, and as a consequence it
has become advantageous for those using
small quantities of timber to buy itfrom
| the Government.
| The restrictions under which the fell
ing and hauling Of logs is done are as
| light as is consistent with the welfare of
the forest. Just how important these
restrictions are is becoming better and
better understood, and purchasers who
have completed contract to purchase
under them have sought and secured
timber second or third time, showing
that logging methods which secure the
safety and reproduction of the forest are
nevertheless capable District observance
in practice without loss or material in
convenience to the operator