Rock Island Argus., 1910-12-06

business than ever before in it's his
tory. Economies have been effected
where possible without legislative AS
sistance, and these are shown in the
reduced estimates for the expenses OF
the department during the current fis-
cal year and during the year to come.
Conservation.
The subject of the conservation Of
the public domain has commanded the
attention of the people within the last
two or three years.
Agricultural Lands.
There is no need for radical reform
in the methods of disposing of what
are really agricultural lands. The
present laws have worked well. The
enlarged homestead law has encour-
aged the successful farming of lands
In the semiarid regions.
Reclamation.
The total sum already accumulated
in the fund provided by the act for
the reclamation of arid lands is about
$50, ,449. .O5S,T6, and of this all but &c.
241. .O5S.T6 has been allotted TO the va
rious projects, of which there are thir-
ty. Congress at its last session pro
vided for the issuing of certificates Of
Indebtedness not exceeding $20,000,O00.
to be redeemed from the reclamation
fund when the proceeds Of lands sold
and from the water rents should be
sufficient.
Meantime. in accordance with the
provisions of the law. I appointed a
-, asYNas
the projects and to ascertain which
are feasible and worthy of completion.
That board has made a report upon
the subject, which 1 shall transmit in
n separate message within a few days.
Forest Lands.
Nothing can be more important in
the matter of conservation than the
treatment of our forest lands. 1t was
probably the ruthless destruction of
forests in the older states that first
called attention TO the necessity for
halt in the waste of our resources.
This was recognized by congress by
an act authorizing the executive TO re-
serve from entry and set aside pub
lie timberlands as national forests.
Speaking generally. there has been re-
served Of the existing forests about 20
per cent of all the timberlands of the
government. Within these forests lin
Guiding 2G,OO0,OOO acres in two forests
in Alaska) are 92,OO0,0OO acres, of
which 166.OOO.OOO acres are in the
United States proper and include with
in their boundaries something like o.
100000 acres that belong TO the states
or TO private individuals.
We have. then. excluding Alaska for
ests. a total of about 144.O0O.O00 acres
of forests belonging TO the government
which are being treated in accord with
the principles of scientific forestry.
The law now prohibits the reservation
of any more forest lands in Oregon.
Washington, Idaho. Montana. Colora.
do and Wyoming except by act of con
gress. l am informed by the depart
ment of agriculture that the govern
ment owns other tracts of tmberland
in these states which should be in
cludcd in the forest reserves. ! rec
ommend to congress that the limitation
herein imposed be repealed.
In the present forest reserves there
are lands which are not properly for
est land and which ought 10 he sub
ject 10 homestead entry. This has
caused some local irritation. We are
carefully eliminating such lands from
forest reserves or. where their elimina-
ton is not practicable. listing them
for entry under the forest homestead
act Congress ought TO trust the ex-
ecutive TO use the power of reservation
only with respect to land most vaiu-
able for forest purposes.
During the present administration
6.2JOOO0 acres Of land. largely non
timbered. have been excluded from for
est reserves, and $500, 600 acres of land
principally valuable for forest pur-
poses have been included in forest re-
serves. making q reduction in forest
reserves Of nontimbered land amount
ing to 2,TJO.UOO acres. The bureau OF
forestry since its creation has initiat-
ed reforestation on about $4,000 acres.
A great deal Of the forest land IS avail
able for grazing. During the past year
the grazing licensees numbered 2j.6S7.
and they pastured upon the forest re.
serves 1.4O@,S73 cattle, S5.J52 horses
and 7.55S6JO sheep. for which the gov
ernment received S9SG.909. a decrease
from the preceding year of $45,2IG.
due to the fact that no money was col
lected or received for grazing on the
nontimbered lands eliminated from the
forest reserves. Another source of
profit in the forestry is the receipts fer
timber sold.
This year they amounted TO S1,Ol3,-
IDS an increase of S.S0T, SO over the re-
ceipts of last year. This increase is
due to the improvement in transporta-
ton to market and 10 the greater IA
cility with which the timber can be
reached.
About $25.000,OC0 wcrth Of timber in
these national forests was destroyed
during the last summer by forest fires.
Coal Lands.
The next subject. and ore most i'm
portant for your consideration. is the
disposition of the coal lands in the
S,, "a