the mill there is operated on the basis of running through that timber without any limitation, it is just a question of time until that community will be stranded, and we have to reduce the cutting down to the point of the growing capacity of that ground.

I encouraged the R. F. C. to make a loan for a pulp mill in an area where there was 30 percent wastage, where now they have a complete utilization of the product, without any waste.

Mr. TARVER. What inducements do you offer those companies in order to comply with your terms?

Mr. SILCOX. None, except that the plans are sound financially and that they can get their mill related to the capacity of the ground and that they can finance the thing over a long-time period. That is sounder from the standpoint of taxation, for the county is willing to make certain taxation concessions when it knows that they will not be wiped out, and they get certain advantages by following that plan. There are large areas of land owned in the United States by such companies as General Motors, Henry Ford, Weyerhaeuser, and so forth, that fit into a plan of management that will mean, instead of having stranded communities in those areas, plans can be marked out with them in a number of instances which will provide for some degree of stability to the dependent communities. For example, Mr. Ford, through our efforts, is putting in a subsistence homestead of his own, and has shifted from a liquidation basis on his timber to managing it on a cropping basis, and that means that that community is dependent on that and that it will have some sense of continuity. Mr. TARVER. What I am trying to get at is, what advantages do these companies owning these lands secured by their cooperation with you? Do you do anything other than to suggest to them the following of a procedure which might in your judgment be beneficial to them? Do you furnish them any aid which costs money?

Mr. SILCOX. We work out the plans, and, if there is necessity, as in the case that I was telling you about, we actually go to the R. F. C. and work out the details of a loan.

Mr. TARVER. I have in mind the recent decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in the A. A. A. case, in which the Court held that Congress, by offering inducements in the nature of donations to producers of agricultural products for the purpose of influencing their production was going into a field from which it was debarred by the Constitution.

Now, timber is an agricultural product, and I wondered why the same rule would not be applicable to any attempt to control the production of timber.

Mr. SILCOX. We have no way of actually controlling. The only thing that we can do is to help make management plans. Mr. TARVER. Bring about voluntary agreements?

Mr. SILCOX. Yes.

Mr. TARVER. That is all that was done by the farmers under the A. A. A., as to these crop reductions.

Mr. UMSTEAD. But, in this case, your Department does not pay to them any money?

Mr. SILCOX. Nothing at all.

Mr. UMSTEAD. Or give to them any compensation whatever? You simply try to tender your services to them, in order to work out plans which ultimately will be for your benefit?

Mr. SILCOX. Yes.

Mr. TARVER. So far as the legal question involved is concerned, it makes no difference whether a direct payment is made or whether any inducement or aid is offered by the Federal Government to bring about the control of their production, and you have just testified as to the nature of the aids or inducements that are offered to them.

Of course, I am not in accord with the decision of the Supreme Court, but I accede to it because of necessity, and I am simply endeavoring to point out that the same theory which was followed by the majority of the Court in that opinion might prohibit the offering of any advantages to owners of timber in an effort to bring about some control of their production.

Mr. UMSTEAD. There is no contract here entered into between the United States Government and any owner of that timber, as I understand it.

Mr. SILCOX. No.

Mr. UMSTEAD. You simply offer them good service in an advisory capacity?

Mr. SILCOX. Yes.

Mr. TARVER. And aid in securing loans from the R. F. C.?

Mr. SILCOX. They have to make that application without reference to the Forest Service, but it is perfectly obvious that a governmental agency making the loan would come to the technical agency of the Government that knows more about timber for advice.

Mr. TARVER. Unless there are some further questions relating to this item

URGENT NEED FOR ADDITIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE PERSONNEL

Mr. SILCOX. I would like to repeat the statement, Mr. Chairman, that, dating clear back to 1923, we have had no increases for the Washington office organization. As a matter of fact, in 1935 we had much less than we had in 1925.

I had been out of the Forest Service for 17 years, and then came back, so that I am looking at this thing both as an insider and as an outsider, and I do not see how anybody physically can handle this wide stretch of area without setting up at least this increase in the central office. It seems to me that we are running the risk, without at least that much additional personnel, of having gaps occur in the field, and inefficiencies that will cost a whole lot more than the difference between the amount that we are asking for and the amount that we formerly had.

Mr. UMSTED. Regardless of what the attitude of this committee may be toward the total amount appropriated for your Bureau, it is a fact, is it not, that the increase in the number of acres of land over which your Bureau now has jurisdiction and the increases in the field forces heretofore made of necessity make a corresponding increase necessary in the duties of the Washington office?

Mr. SILCOX. Yes; quite definitely. We have had an increase of 15,000,000 to 16,000,000 acres, and a reduction in the amount of money given to us in order to handle the Washington office.

Mr. UMSTEAD. And it is impossible to keep increasing the field forces, as I understand you, and to keep increasing the appropriations for other places in the Forestry Service, without making at the

same time the same increase in the appropriation for the Washington office?

Mr. SILCOX. Exactly.

NATIONAL FOREST ADMINISTRATION

Mr. TARVER. Now we will pass to the item, "National forest administration", which reads:

National Forest Administration: For the administration, protection, and development of the national forests, including the compensation and traveling expenses of field personnel; the purchase of materials, supplies, and equipment; the establishment and maintenance of forest tree nurseries, including the procurement of tree seed and nursery stock by purchase, production, or otherwise, seeding and tree planting and the care of plantations and young growth; the maintenance and operation of aerial fire control by contract or otherwise, but not including the purchase of landing fields or aircraft; the maintenance of roads and trails and the construction and maintenance of all other improvements necessary for the proper and economical administration, protection, development, and use of the national forests: Provided, That where, in the opinion of the Secretary of Agriculture, direct purchases will be more economical than construction, improvements may be purchased; the construction and maintenance of sanitary facilities and for fire preventive and other measures incident to recreational developments and use; control of destructive forest tree diseases and insects; timber cultural operations; development and application of fish and game management plans; propagation and transplanting of plants suitable for planting on semiarid portions of the national forests; estimating and appraising of timber and other resources and development and application of plans for their effective management, sale, and use; examination, classification, surveying, and appraisal of land incident to effecting exchanges authorized by law and of lands within the boundaries of the national forests that may be opened to homestead settlement and entry under the Act of June 11, 1906 (U. S. C., title 16, secs. 506–509), and the Act of August 10, 1912 (U. S. C., title 16, sec. 506), as provided by the Act of March 4, 1913 (U. S. C., title 16, sec. 512), and all other expenses necessary for the use, maintenance, improvement, protection, and general administration of the national forests and lands under contract for purchase or for the acquisition of which condemnation proceedings have been instituted under the Act of March 1, 1911 (U. S. C., title 16, sec. 521), and the Act of June 7, 1924 (U. S. C., title 16, secs. 471, 499, 505, 564-570).

In national forest region 1, Montana, Washington, Idaho, and South Dakota, $1,981,964: Provided, That the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to use not to exceed $200 in caring for the graves of fire fighters buried at Wallace, Idaho; Newport, Washington; and Saint Maries, Idaho;

In national forest region 2, Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Nebraska, $991,222;

In national forest region 3, Arizona and New Mexico, $1,132,279;

In national forest region 4, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, and Colorado$1,217,547;

In national forest region 5, California and Nevada, $1,799,130;

In national forest region 6, Washington, Oregon, and California, $1,772,947; In national forest region 7, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, New Hampshire, Maine, Kentucky, and Vermont, $600,807;

In national forest region 8, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas, $1,104,597;

In national forest region 9, Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio, Indiana, and Wisconsin, $986,233;

In national forest region 10, Alaska $119,609;

In all, for the use, maintenance, improvement, protection, and general administration of the national forests, $11,706,335: Provided, That the foregoing amounts appropriated for such purposes shall be available interchangeably in the discretion of the Secretary of Agriculture for the necessary expenditures for fire protection and other unforeseen exigencies: Provided further, That the amounts so interchanged shall not exceed in the aggregate 10 per centum of all the amounts so appropriated.

Mr. SILCOX. The following statement is presented to justify thi estimate:

The increase of $3,706,758 in regular funds includes: (1) An increase of 222,314 for timber use. The demand for national forest timber is rising sharply as building activities climb steadily back toward a normal level. As new timber-sale operations are started and as old operations which have been dormant reopen, additional personnel is required to handle the work. In addition, some provision must be made for handling the considerable increase in the demands upon national-forest timber for self-help associations and a great number of farmers and other residents living on or near the national forests who have been forced to change their habits of obtaining fuel, lumber, and timber supplies because of depression and drought conditions.

(2) An increase of $1,007,452 for forest-fire prevention and preparedness.-During the fiscal year 1936 it is expected that an additional 5,000,000 acres will be added to the national forests by purchase. In the western regions nearly a million acres have been added by exchange and various enlargements made to the national forests since any increase has been given for forest-fire prevention and prepared

ness.

During the summer of 1935 disastrous fires in critical areas disclosed weaknesses which can only be cured by the employment of additional guards and protective facilities for the 3- or 4-month period of fire danger.

In too many instances the force of fire guards is so thinly spread that fires grow to unmanageable size before they can be reached, and the result is a conflagration not only destructive to natural resources but adding heavily to the annual deficiency for fighting large fires. The burning of the national forests is no longer looked upon passively by the public. The Government is being criticized, with considerable justice, for its slowness in providing an adequate fire organization and modern fire-fighting equipment.

The increase requested will make it possible to strengthen the year-long organization and to employ a total of 5,785 guards, at an average wage per man per season of $404. Fire guards and other seasonal forest employees, working a few months each year on the national forests, with their families maintained on privately owned subsistence homesteads on or near the forests, constitute a demonstration of one important means of solving problems on unemployment and social break-down. Personnel obtained under this item must have known competence and skill for difficult technical tasks. Substitution of inexperienced emergency employees has been tried, but has led to unsatisfactory results. A regular, planned basis for fire-control personnel is vital.

(3) An increase of $50,000 for protection against tree insects.-Epidemics of treekilling insects, which commonly attack the oldest and most valuable trees, can reduce the merchantable volume on an area to the point where lumbering is unprofitable. When this happens, plans for sustained yield and for stable industries and communities based on that sustained yield are disrupted. Protection of the forest against such disasters is therefore essential and is one of the costs of the management of forests which must be met if that management is to be successful. The most serious insect threats are in the areas of virgin forests in the West. Here the bark beetles act much like forest fires, in that epidemics cannot be anticipated as to definite location. The drought conditions of recent years seem to have been favorable to the increase of these destructive pests, however, and it is necessary to have funds available for the hire of temporary laborers to cut the infested trees and to kill the insects in them by burning, or sometimes by exposure, so as to prevent multiplication and further increased losses. Various emergency funds have been used for this work in the fiscal years 1935 and 1936, but it is not anticipated that they will be available in the fiscal year 1937. The need arises

suddenly and in unexpected places. The amount requested is necessary to cover the work expected to be necessary in 1937

Very little expenditure for equipment is required in this work. From 80 to 90 percent of the total goes for the hire, subsistence, and transportation of laborers. Where the work is necessary, it offers employment in the late fall, early spring, or even, in some cases, in the winter, when other work is scarce, and at the same time protects the permanency of the communities dependent on the timber crop. The form in which emergency funds must be spent has not permitted the full use of such funds for this activity. Insect epidemics arise rapidly, and effective handling requires the flexibility inherent under regular appropriations and largely lacking under energency funds.

(4) An increase of $360,286 for protection against tree diseases. The most important tree-kil ing disease on the national forests is the white-pine blister rust. This European disease is thoroughly established in the forests of western white pine in Idaho, western Montana, and Washington, and is moving southward through Oregon into the sugar-pine region of California. These western species of white pine are even more susceptible to this disease than is eastern white pine. In northern Idaho and the adjacent parts of Montana and Washington, white pine is by far the most valuable tree in the forest and the local communities are dependent for their very existence on its continued production. Sugar pine is California's most valuable species, and has proven to be especially susceptible to blister rust. If blister rust is not controlled it will remove this most valuable tree from the California forests.

This disease has to spend part of its life cycle in the leaves of currant or gooseberry bushes and can travel back to pine trees only for a distance of about 1,000 feet. The destruction of these bushes prevents infection of the pines. The work therefore consists of finding and uprooting the currant and gooseberry bushes in the immediate vicinity of white-pine stands or, where more economical, killing these bushes with chemicals. Once an area has been worked over, maintenance is only a small fraction of the initial cost.

The work is very largely hand labor, with an average of 80 to 90 percent of the total expenditure used for the pay, subsistence, and transportation of men. Large areas, in excess of 800,000 acres, have been covered by the use of funds for emergency employment, including Public Works Administration, Federal Emergency Relief Administration, and Civilian Conservation Corps, but there remain about 500,000 acres of national-forest land needing this protection in the north Idaho region, and the funds estimated for are essential to handle areas not covered and out of reach of Civilian Conservation Corps camps.

In Arizona and New Mexico a twig blight has done much damage to the pine forests in the vicinity of Prescott and Silver City. This disease has caused great alarm among the users of the areas and appears to be a serious danger to much larger areas. If it continues, it will be necessary to use about $100,000 of the estimated funds to prevent further spread. Emergency funds have been used extensively under this item, and a large share of the total job in sight has been completed; but completion will require regular funds, since the emergency allotment, Emergency Conservation Work remaining for fiscal year 1937 is not well adapted to the remaining portion of the job.

(5) An increase of $200,000 for grazing use.-Eighty-nine million acres of national forest land used for grazing and vital interests of dependent communities have suffered because administrative time required for orderly and well-coordinated range use has unavoidably been diverted to duties which, while not more important, have made more imperative claims upon official time. The increase requested will restore the badly needed attention required for intelligent and efficient management of this use of national-forest land. Twenty-six thousand permittees are threatened with bankruptcy when supervision of the use of these ranges is neglected.

Restoration of the administrative time formerly available for administering the grazing use is required to prevent a repetition of destructive overgrazing in times of declining rainfall, to find the answer when dependent communities need and claim grazing privileges on ranges which are already overcrowded, to prevent destructive trespass, to make the grazing use play its proper part in successful land-use planning for large provinces, to find ways to restore depleted ranges, and to reconcile conflicting claims of recreationists, fish and game interests, and those dependent on livestock for their livelihood.

The only alternative to a restoration of the attention grazing once received is continuous and drastic reduction of permitted livestock, with all the resulting injustices and economic disasters to dependent communities and individuals.