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Show Others of my graduate students in the past have been willing to subject themselves to the drudgery of intensive examination of economic problems affecting the West and the management and disposal of the public lands. Their studies are listed in the bibliography; here I must extend my thanks to them collectively for energy and imagination with which they pursued their researches and contributed to a fresh understanding of the part the public lands have played in the development of the United States. Jerry O'Callaghan, whose doctoral dissertation on "The Disposition of the Public Domain in Oregon" was published as a committee print by the Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, and who has since forsaken the halls of Academe for public administration as Chief of the Office of Legislation and Cooperative Relations in the Bureau of Land Management, Department of the Interior, has been most helpful in providing documents and having data compiled. Lillian Francis Gates has read every word of this study at least twice with a critical eye for errors of fact or interpretation, inconsistencies, faulty construction, and repetition. Her own work on the land policies of Canada before 1867 has given her a shrewd insight into American problems and provided me with interesting contrasts to the American story. Miss Pennie Paynich, Administrative Officer of the Commission, has hastened the borrowing of numerous doctoral dissertations and provided me with frequent assistance that saved much time. Mr. Arthur Meyer, Editor of the Commission, brought his valuable experience as former Editor of the Journal of Forestry to the manuscript which he has much improved. Miss Mary Markovitch gave many late hours to typing and retyping the manuscript and putting tables in order. I have had many conversations with Elmer Bennett, General Counsel and Head of the Legal Group of the Commission, and former Under Secretary of the Interior in the later days of the Eisenhower administration and have learned much of the technical problems of that department from him. He has borne with my crochets, has listened to my judgments, which must have appeared naive to him on occasion, and has caught me in error on more than one occasion. Future historians of public land policies would surely appreciate the preservation of his recollections. P. W. G. |
