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Show ADMINISTRATION OF THE PUBLIC FOREST LANDS 595 gram to create and preserve national forests in New Hampshire, the Southern Appalachians, the Ozarks, and in Minnesota. Some support was given also by people who cared little for conservation but liked the idea of having government money spent in their midst. Unlike the situation in the West, where there had been bitter opposition to the establishment of national forests, in the East there was no antagonism other than the usual opposition from those who dislike anything new, and from those who feared the proposed Federal policy marked a step toward socialism, or that if carried out logically in the future it would entail the expenditure of huge sums of money. In the discussion in both the 2d and 3d sessions of the 61st Congress it was conceded by the opposition that the measure had wide popular support, and the Senate vote indicates this (57-9), though the House vote in the previous session was closer (130-1II).88 The Weeks Forest Purchase Act of March 1, 1911 (named after its sponsor in the House, John W. Weeks of Massachusetts), was an epoch-making step authorizing the Forest Service to acquire and manage forests in states either too poor or too uninterested to undertake extensive forest acquisition and management programs on the watersheds of interstate rivers. Before any purchases could be made the legislature of the state "in which the land lies shall have consented to the acquisition of such land. ..." A National Forest Reservation Commission, composed of the Secretaries of War, Interior, and Agriculture, and two members of each House of Congress was required to pass upon selections of land initiated by the Secretary of Agriculture and approved by the Geological Survey. And to make the overlapping functions even more cumbersome all titles had to be approved by the Attorney General. For the protection of watersheds of navigable rivers the act sanctioned the cooperation of states with each other and with the United States and authorized appropriations of $1 million the first year and $2 million for each of the next 5 years for survey and purchase of land. Five percent of the proceeds from the sale of timber in the forests was to be paid to the states in which the land was located for public schools and roads.86 Sensing the concern of many people in New England and the Southern Appalachian states for protection of the watersheds and of specially attractive wilderness areas, Congress had appropriated money to the Forest Service in 1908 for a reconnaissance survey to determine what part should be permanently forested. After what must have been a fairly quick reconnaissance Pinchot came up with an estimate of 23 million acres in the Southern Appalachians and 2 million acres in the White Mountains and recommended the purchase of 5 million acres in the South and 600,000 acres in New Hampshire and Maine.s7 Within a year after the adoption of the Weeks Act the Forest Service had 35 examiners searching through the two regions for forested lands most appropriate for the purchase program and in 1912 was in process of acquiring 257,228 acres in eight purchase units in New Hampshire, Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia. Other purchase units had been outlined in Maryland, West Virginia, and South Carolina. The Forest Service took care to prevent intermediaries getting options on land with a view to selling it at a higher price to the government by announcing that no optioned land would be purchased. The first year the prices paid ranged from $1.16 for land well culled for its timber to $15 for 85 Cong. Record, 61st Cong., 2d sess., June 24, 1910, p. 9027 and 61st Cong., 3d sess., Feb. 15, 1911, p. 2602. s636 Stat., Part 1, p. 961; Darrell H. Smith, I he Forest Service. Its History, Activities and Organization (Washington, 1930), p. 42. 87 Report of the Forester, 1908, p. 29. |