he East. It was but natural that the trust should seek a means to
stifle the constantly increasing competition from the homesteads of the
West, and the means was found in the establishment of the National
Forest Reserves.

While the greater portion of North America was yet a wilderness, the
giving of vast tracts of valuable land on the remote frontier to private
individuals and companies could be accomplished. But at this time such a
procedure would have been impossible, tho it was imperative for the life
of the trust that the timber of the Pacific Slope should be withdrawn
from the possibility of homestead entry. In order to carry out this
scheme it was necessary to raise a cry of "Benefit to the Public" and
make it appear that this new public policy was in the interest of future
generations. The cry was raised that the public domain was being used
for private gain, that the timber was being wastefully handled, that
unnecessary amounts were being cut, that the future generations would
find themselves without timber, that the watersheds were being denuded
and that drought and floods would be the certain result, that the nation
should receive a return for the timber that was taken, together with
many other specious pleas.

That the public domain was being used for private gain was in some
instances true, but the vast majority of the timber land was being taken
as homesteads, and thus taking the timber outside the control of the
trust. That the timber was being wastefully handled was to some extent
true, but this was inevitable in the development of a new industry in a
new country, and so far as the Pacific Slope is concerned there is but
little change from the methods of twenty years ago. That unnecessary
amounts were being cut was sometimes true, but this served only to keep
prices down, and from the standpoint of the trust was unpardonable on
that account alone. The market is being supplied now as formerly, and
with as much as it will take. The only means that has been used to
restrict the amount cut has been to raise the price to about double what
it was in 1896. The denuding of the watersheds of the continent goes on
today the same as it did twenty-five years ago, the only consideration
being whether there is a market for the timber. Some reforesting has
been done, and some protection has been established for the prevention
of fires, but these things have been much in the nature of an
advertisement since the governm