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Show ADMINISTRATION OF THE PUBLIC FOREST LANDS 569 aries and permanent tenure should be given them at the outset. A director, assistant director, four inspectors of forests, 26 head foresters and 26 assistant foresters assigned to the 26 districts, and 200 rangers should be provided. An initial appropriation of $250,000 was recommended to get the new agency under way.10 Cleveland was deeply impressed with the oral recommendations of the commission, delivered to him before the full report could be made public-over the objections of Pinchot, who rightly feared that any action taken before the report was released would produce great opposition. Cleveland promptly issued 13 proclamations establishing reserves in seven states as recommended.11 A storm of protest arose in the West, expressed in memorials from legislatures and public meetings, by letters from western public officials, angry editorials and vituperative denunciation of the President in both Houses of Congress that has rarely been equalled.12 Senators Wilson and Turner of Washington, Shoup of Idaho, White of California, Clark of Wyoming, Rawlins of Utah, and particularly R. F. Pettigrew of South Dakota outdid themselves in condemning the President's arbitrary action, based on the recommendations of "theorists" (Pinchot, Sargent, et al.) who knew nothing of the West. Mining and lumbering, the two major industries, would be completely halted by the proclamations, they said.13 So bitter was the feeling that for a time it appeared that both the re- 10 S. Doc, 55th Cong., 1st sess., Vol. 5, No. 105 (Serial No. 3562), 37 pp. The Commission also recommended the establishment of the Mount Rainier and Grand Canyon areas as national parks. 11 29 Stat., Proclamations 19-31. Gifford Pinchot's account in his Breaking New Ground (New York, 1947), pp. 86 ff., is useful. 12Robbins, Our Landed Heritage, pp. 315-21. 13 Cong. Record, 55th Cong., 1st sess., pp. 899-900, 908-25; S. Doc, 55th Cong., 1st sess., Vol. 5, No. 68 (Serial No. 3562); Robbins, Our Landed Heritage, pp. 315 ff.; Richardson, The Politics of Conservation, pp. 1 ff. serves and the forest reserve section of the Revision Act of 1891 might be endangered. The later publication of the report of the Commission, and smart footwork by some of the act's supporters toned down the bitterness in Congress to some extent and led to a compromise between the point of view of the scientists and of the western representatives. Forest Management and Forest Lieu Act The compromise took the form of an amendment proposed by Senator Pettigrew to a civil appropriation bill that involved new and unbudgeted funds. The amendment was not germane to the bill and should have been ruled out on the point of order that was raised. The amended bill, in the form finally enacted on June 4, 1897, came to be called the Forest Management Act. It suspended the proclamations of February 22, 1897, until March 1, 1898, and restored the withdrawn lands to the public domain where they were subject to entry. This was a blow to the conservationists but seemed necessary to allay western feeling. Senator William B. Allison declared that the amendment was not necessary as the President was prepared to order the return of the lands to the public domain when authority was given him. Pettigrew's reply was that it was more than a question of returning the lands to the public domain; what was most important was to provide in the amendment that "prospecting, locating, developing" the mineral resources were to be permitted in all the forest reserves, and were to be subject to the control of the Department of the Interior. The Secretary was authorized to make rules and regulations for "the occupancy and use" of the forests, a provision which was to be the legal basis for the Department's control and leasing of grazing and waterpower sites at a later time. He was also authorized to provide for the protection of the reserves |