The daily sentinel., 1907-06-21
CHIEF PTNCHOT'S
STRONG ADDRESS
The Public Lands Convention Ends After Pass.
ing Pointed Resolutions--DeIegates Leav-
ing-Garfield and Pinchot Defended
the Administration Heartily

. more directly than the citizen of any
Il other nation. Ours is civilization OF
wood as much as it is of coal and
steel. We are using every year three
d, times as much wood from our forests
| as they are growing. A great timber
I famine is not only In sight; but it is
/ approaching with bewlldering speed.
/ After the first national forests
| Ccalled forest reserves) We're created
under the Act of March 8, 1891, it
/ began TO appear that q few rich men
were getting control of vast areas
| of public timber lands, often by
methods which ! need not stop to
describe. These men saw not only
that there was going to be great
shortage of timber, but also that
when the shortage came 1t would be
enormously profitable for them To
control what timber there was good
The reasoning was good and they
went vigorously to carry it into effect
But President Roosevelt was awake
to the situation. He saw that it would
be vastly better to have some of the
timber in the governments hands for
the benefit of all the people. rather
than have It all in the hands of a
few great owners strictly for their
He acted. and created many million
acres of national forests.
In view of this action of the pres
ident taken to prevent monopoly and.
consequent excessive price OF lumber,
it is curious to find some good men
honestly convinced that the creation
of national forests is a bad thing,
because. they say, it is raising the
price of lumber to the consumer. III
is the general scarcity of timber, not
the national forests, that is raising
the price of lumber to the consumer,
and this is proved by the fact that
prices have risen far more rapidly I'M
the east. where there are no national
forests, than in the west, where thereI
are many.
Another very powerful reason
stands behind our forests policy. I'll
is needed to protect the water sheds
of streams used for irrigation, for do
nestle water and manufacturing sup-l
ply, aud for transportation. No well
Informed man any longer doubts the
benefcient effect of the forest on the
streams. No friend of irrigation,
which is to be the great fundamental
industry of the west, doubts the wis
dom o. protecting the forests, or of
protecting the vegetation on thel
summer ranges within the forests
which are almost as important in their
effect on water flow as the forests
themselves. If there were no other
reason and there are many-the
protection of irrigation throughout
the west would amply Justify the
pres dents forest policy.
All true agricultural land in ma
tional forests is opened to settlement
and entry under the conditions im-l
posed by congress in the act of June
II, 1906.
Actual settlers are now using the
act and number of applications have
been filed by persons seeking to make
settlement. Every effort is eNerted
to secure prompt action on these aD-I
plications.
1T has often been asserted that
the government is trying to make
money out of the national forests.
This is a profound mistake. The for
ests service is not in business in theI
ordinary sense of the word. What Isl
is trying to do, and trying hard, is tel
make the national forests pay eN-
peuses by handling them in busi-I
uess like way. As soon as possible wei
hore to make the national forests self
supporting. so that they will meet tie
costs not only of ordinary administra-
ton. but also of trail and road maxi
I:.g. bridge building, planting on inn
rortuut watersheds and all other i'm
lttvements to make forests as useful
TO tie people as possible.
The returns from the sale of timber
(Continued on Page SIX. }