The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1906-09-03

telligence. and enough has been done
to show how our forest policy is work.
ing out.
The result of first Importance to you
as irrigators is this: The forest SER
vice has proved that forest fires can
be controlled. by controlling them.
Only one-tenth of l per cent of the
area of the forest reserves was
burned over in 1905. This achieve
ment was due both to the forest SER
vice and to the effective assistance of
settlers and others in and near the
reserves. Everything the government
has ever spent upon its forest work is
a small price to pay for the knowledge
that the streams which make your
prosperity can be and are being freed
from the ever-present threat of for
est fires.
Differences Settleo.
The long standing and formerly bit
ter differences between the stockmen
and the forest officers are nearly all
settled. Those which remain are in
process of settlement. Hearty coop
Grafton exists almost everywhere be-
tween the officers of the forest SER
vice and the local association of stock
men, who are appointing advisory
committees which are systematic
cally consulted by the forest service
on all questions in which they are
concerned. This most satisfactory con-
dition of mutual help will be as well
come to you as it is to the adminis-
traton and to the stockmen. To the
CT.
certain, grass; to you, because of the
better protection and wiser use of
the range, it means steadier stream
flow and more water.
The sales of fOrest-reserve timber to
settlers, miners, lumbermen, and other
users are increasing very rapidly, and
in that way also the reserves are sue
cessfully meeting a growing need.
Lands of Value.
Lands in the forest reserves that are
more valuable for agriculture than for
forest purposes are being opened to
settlement and entry as fast as their
agricultural character can be ascer-
tanned There is therefore no longer
excuse for saying that the reserves re-
tard the legitimate settlement and de-
velopment of the country. On the
contrary, they promote and sustain
that development, and they will do so
in no way more powerfully than
through their direct contributions to
the schools and roads. Ten per cent of
all the money received from the for
est reserves goes to the states for the
use of the counties in which the re-
serves lie, to be used for schools and
roads. The amount of this contribu-
ton is nearly $4,000 for NE first year.
1t will grow steadily larger, and will
form a certain and permanent source
of income, which would not have been
the case with the taxes whose place it
takes.
Finally, a body of intelligent, prac-
teal, we'll trained men, citizens of the
west, is being built up-men In whose
hands the public interests including
your own, are and will be safe.
Of the Whole West.
All these results are good; but they
have not been achieved by the forest
service alone. On the contrary, they
represent also the needs and sugges-
tions of the people of the whole west.
They embody constant changes and
adjustments to meet these sugges-
lions and needs. The forest policy of
the government in the west has now
become what the west desired it to be.
1t is a national policy-wider than the
boundaries of any state, and larger
than the interests of any single in
dustry. Of course it can not give any
set of men exactly what they would
choose. Undoubtedly the irrigator
would often like to have less stock on
his watersheds, while the stockman
wants more. The lumberman would
like. to cut more timber, the settler
and the miner would often like him to
cut less, The county authorities want