Arizona republican., 1912-03-26

1 the primary system of roads, trails, and other Improvements necessary for l fire prevention. A curtlilment of 1 this work is therefore exceedingly ] serious in the development of the 1 national forests"
 1 inss:
 THE CHAIRMAN: The next item 1 is:
 For the construction and main | tenancc of roads. trails, bridges, fire lanes, telephone lines. cabins. fences | and other permanent Improvements l necess iry for the proper and cconom- ical administration. protection. and development of the national forests. ] $500, ,O00
 What do you say. inaSmuch as | that Was increased 50 much last year. to giving you S30o. .OO0 this year MIR. GRAVES: That will be d ; question Of consideration of public ] policy. of how rapidly il is desired | to extend the work of the permanent | improvements which are necessary
  1 lection. In this connection l would 1 like to call the attention of the committee to the fact that the for ests are still very inaccessible; that 1 there are vast areas We can not set ! into for proper patrol or tO trans port men; and until we do make ] them accessible there is always So- ips ha ing al q remote point and getting such start that before we get to them they are almost beyond our control"
 I ask you to note that the pres ent amount carried in the bin is s27j 900. being S25,O0O less than the amount suggested by the chairman at the hearings.
 As l understand it. Mir. Chairman. the primary purpose of the forest service is fire protection. If the forests burn. there will be no timber 10 sell. the regular flow of the streams will be diminished. and the value of the reserves for grazing pur- poses will also he cut down. The secondary purpose of the forest ser vice is to make the resources of the forest available for use, such as the sale of timber the granting of graz ing permits, and the disposal of wa ter power. and a great variety Of other special uses. We may honestly disagree about the methods used by the forest service in carrying out it's secondary purpose. We have heard on the floor of this house in the discussion of this bill complaints about the manner in which contracts are let for the sale of timber, con- plaints of favoritism in the granting of grazing permits. and we have also heard the complaints made by gen tlemen that the development of the west is being retarded by unneces- sary restrictions on the use of water power, and many of us per haps have been provoked by the petty acts of some department off cial who seems to think that the regulation of the forest service are superior tn acts of congress, and WhO swollen hy q little brief author ity. attempts to make a record by harIssnG the settler. But I do be- lieve that there is one thing upon which the whole American people are agreed, and that is that the re- maining forests of the United States should be protected from the need less and preventable waste caused by the ravages of fire. l insist that it is false economy to make any reduc- ton in the present appropriation. IL is in the nature of an insurance of great national asset, the value of which runs into millions of dollars. and aside from that in many places it means the protection of human life. When you reduce this appropriation you are cutting at the very heart of the conservation idea. l sincerely hope that this amendment will pre- vail CApplause.)