The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1906-09-06
such Increases, I look forward with great

such increases. I look forward with great
to the result,
BY the side of the reclamation service
there has grown up another service Of not
less interest and value to you of the west.
This Is the forest service, which was Gre
ated when the charge of the forest re-
serves was transferred from the interior
department to the department OF agricul-
ture. The forest policy Of the administra-
ton, which the forest service Is engaged In
carrying out, is based, as l have often
cry resource OF the forest reserves con-
tribute; in the highest degree to the perma-
neEt prosperity of the people, who de-
como when the western forests are des-
troyec, there will disappear with them the
prosperity Of the stockman, the miner, the
!umberman, and the railroads, and, most
c%ultivates his own land. I 10Y that you
are with me In the Intention to preserve
the timber, the water, and the grass by
using them fully, but wisely and conserva-
lively. We propose to do this through the
freest and most cordial cooperation be-
tween the government and every man who
is in sympathy with this policy, the wis
dom of which no man who knows the facts
can for a momcnt doubt.
1t is now less than two years since the
forest service was established. 1t had a
great task before It to create or reorganize
the service on a hundred forest reserves
and to ascertain and meet the very differ
ent local conditions and local needs all
over the west. This task is not finished,
and of course 1t could not have been fin
ished in SO short a time. But the work has
been carried forward with energy and in
telligence and enough has been done to
show how our forest policy is working out,
Tho result of first Importance to you as
lrrigators is this: The forest service has
proved that forest fires can be controlled,
by controlling them. Only one-tenth Of
one per cent. of the area Of the forest re-
serves was burned over in 1gh. This
achievement was due both to the forest
service and to the effective assistance Of
settlers and others in and near the re
serves. Everything the government has
ever spent upon it's forest work is a small
price to pay for the knowledge that the
streams which maxi Your prosperity can
be and are being freed from the evcr-preS-
ent threat OF forest fires.
Tn long-standing and formerly bitter
differences bctwecn the stockmen and the
Forest officers are nearly all settled. Those
which remain are in process Of settlement.
Hearty cooperation exists almost every
where between the officers OF the forest
service and the local associations Of stock
men, who are appointing advisory COM
mittces which are systematically consulted
by the forest service on all questions in
which they are concerned. This most sat
isfactory conditions Of mutual help will
be as welcome to you as it is to the ad-
ministration ard to the Stockmen To the
stOckmen it means more, and more certain
grass; to you. because Of the better protec-
ZION and wiser use of the range, il means
StCadier stream flow and more water.
The sales Of fcrcst-reserve timber to set
tiers, miners, iumbcrmcn and other users,
are increasing very rapidly, and in that
way also the reserves are successfully
meeting q growing need.
Lands in the forest reserves that are
more Valuable for agriculture than for for
est reserve urpos are being opened to
settlement and entry as fast as their ag-
ricuitural character al be ascertained.
There is therefore no longer cXcuS" for
saying the reserves retard the legitimate
settlement and development OF the coun-
try. IN the contrary they promote and
sustain that development, and they WI do
50 in no way more powerfully than
through their direct contributions to the
schools and roads. Ten per cent. CT all
the money received from the forest re-
serves goes to the state for the use of the
counties in which the reserves lie, to be
Of this contribution IS nearly 10000 for
the first year. 1T VIII grow steadily larger
and will form a certain and permanent
source of income, which would not have
it takes.
Finally. a body of intelligent, practical,
Well-train@d mcrs citizens of the west, is
being built up of men in whose hands the
public interests. including your own, are
and will be safe,
All these results are good but they nave
not been achieved by the forest service
alone. On the contrary, they represent
also the needs and suggestions Of the peo-
pie Of the whole west. They embody con-
SSant changes and adjustments to meet
these suggestions and needs. Tho forest
policy of the government in the west has
now become what the west desired it to
be. 1t is Il national po~licy-wider than the
boundaries OF any state, and larger than
the interests of any single industry. OF
course it cannot give any set of man ex-
actly what they would choose. Undoubt-
IDLY, the irrigator would often like to have
less stock on his watersheds, while the
stockman wants more. The lumberrnan
would like to cut moro timber, the settler
and the miner would often like to have
him cut less. The county authorities want
TO see more money coming IN for schools
and roads while the lumberman and the
Stockman object to the rise in Value of
timber and ~rass. But the interests of the
people as a whole are. I repeat, safe in the
hands of the forest service.
by keeping the public forest in the pub
lie hands our forest policy substitutes the
good of the whole people for the profits
OF the privileged few. With that result
none will quarrel except the men who are
losing chance of !, nal prolt at the pub
lie eXpenre.
Our western forest policy is based upon
meeting the wishes of the best public
sentiment Of the whole west. 1t proposes
10 create new reserves wherever forest
lands still vacant are found In the public
domain and t. give the reserves already
made the highest possible usefulness to
all the people. So far our promises to the
people in regard to 1t have all been made
good: and l have faith that this policy
because J believe that the people of the
west are behind It. Sincerely ours.
Theodore Roosevelt.