ent has taken charge of the forests, and
was done automatically by the homesteaders before the Reserves were
established. There has never been any restriction in the amount of
timber that any company could buy, and the more it wanted, the better
chance it had of getting it. The nation is receiving some return from
the sale of timber from the government land, but it is in the nature of
a division of the spoils from a raid on the homes of the landless.

When the Reserve were established, the Secretary of the Interior was
empowered to "make rules and regulations for the occupancy and the use
of the forests and preserve them from destruction." No attempt was made
in the General Land Office to develop a technical forestry service. The
purpose of the administration was mainly protection against trespass and
fire. The methods of the administration were to see to it first that
there were no trespassers. Fire protection came later. When the Reserves
were established, people who were at the time living within their
boundaries were compelled to submit the titles of their homesteads to
the most rigid scrutiny, and many people who had complied with the
spirit of the law were dispossessed on mere technicalities, while before
the establishment of the Reserve system the spirit of the compliance
with the homestead law was mainly considered, and very seldom the
technicality. And while the Forestry Service was examining all titles to
homesteads within the boundaries of the Reserve with the utmost care,
the large lumbering companies were given the best of consideration, and
were allowed all the timber they requested and a practically unlimited
time to remove it.

The system of dealing with the lumber trust has been most liberal on the
part of the government. A company wanting several million feet of timber
makes a request to the district office to have the timber of a certain
amount and on a certain tract offered for sale. The Forestry Service
makes an estimate of the minimum value of the timber as it stands in the
tree and the amount of timber requested within that tract is then
offered for sale at a given time, the bids to be sent in by mail and
accompanied by certified checks. The bids must be at least as large as
the minimum price set by the Forestry Service, and highest bidder is
awarded the timber, on condition that he satisfies the Forestry Service
that he is responsible and will conduct the logging according to rules
and regulatio