Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-02-12
Peoples
RoStrum
plnchot,a Forest pIsa.

Pinchot's Forest Plea.
To the Editor OF the Evening Star:
Sir-Both in and out of Congress
an attempt is being made to turn the
national forests, which row belong to
the whole people, over to the West
ern States. This attempt was started
because most Of the openings through
which the public lands and their re-
sources used to be stolen have been
closed The men who have grown
rich or who desire to grow rich by
looting the public domain are now
facing hard times.
These men regard any change from
national control as a change for tie
better. for to them the present sltna-
| though a certain number of honest
but mistaken men are behind the eff
fort to destroy the national forests,
still, in a somewhat extensive expert
ence with land grabbers I cannot re-
call single one who was not an ar
dent friend of this policy.
Some of the men most interested
deny that any such movement exists
at all A partial answer is that a
provision to give the national forests
and public lands to the Western
| States was introduced and defeated
ct the last session of Congress, taat
many Western governors advocate 1t,
and that more than a dozen bills to
promote or carry it out ere actually
before Congress now,
The national forests, like the tim
Der, the waterpower, the grass where
the forest is open, and the minerals
they contain, do not stop, and tie use
of them does not stop at State lines
They can be protected and used with
success only under a policy that is
alive to the interests Of the whole
people, and not merely to the inter-
ests of any one section or State.
The heart of the conservation policy
is development and use. The United
States Forest Service, now bitterly
attacked by those whom it has pre-
vented from grabbing public re-
sources, has always stood for prompt
development of the national forests
and the use of them by the small man
first.
Six hundred thousand people use
the national forests every year. the
sheen and cattle which Craze within
their boundaries supply one-sixth or
the American people with meat. Every
man, woman and child in the United
States owns six thousand feet of lum-
Der in the national forests. Much OF
the timber in them is still too remote
and difficult of access to be saleable
now; but as rapidly as ii can be sold
without loss and without injury to
the forest it is cut and used. The
service has built more than 1l0O0
miles of telephone lines, 1900 miles OF
road and over $4,000 miles of trails.
Forty thousand permits for the use
of timber free by settlers are issued
every year Forty-ive thousand
miners operate in national forests,
and the forests conserve the water
supply of LIS towns and cities, and
S24 water power projects which fur
nish light and power for industries
of every kind.
Four-f1fths of the standing timber
in the United States is in private
absolutely control about as much
timber as the other ninety-four mil
lions of us have in the national for
ests. What the nation has left must
be protected for the use of us all
against the coming time of need, and
only the national government can do
that.
The forest service is a clean and
efficient organization almost entirely
made up of Western men. 1t has al
ways been and is today wholly free
from politics. Why should the Amer
lean people run the risk of political
mismanagement and private monop
oily by splitting up the national for
ests between fifteen or twenty sep
arate States, most of which have no
forest services to take charge of
them? 1t is bad business to multiply
organizations when one will do the
work, especially when that one is
doing it we'll already.
If this movement were to succeed
two billion dollars worth of public
property in the national forests would
be in danger of passing by way of
State ownership into private hands
But the greatest danger lies in the
monopolies of coal, water power, tim
Der and other natural resources to
which such private ownership inev-
itably leads. The proof of this state
ment is the story of how the Western
States have squandered the lands al
ready granted to them and the mo-
nopolies which have resulted there
from. There is a similar record in
many of the Eastern States as well.
If this attack succeeds the public
lands and other public resources viii
be endangered in turn. l have taken
the liberty of putting the facts in
your hands because I hope for your
help in this fight.
CLIFFORD PINCHOT.