would cause droughts and floods was a fact before the establishment of
the Reserves, and the fact is still true. Where a logging company
operates, the rule is that it shall take all the timber on the tract
where it works, and then the forest guards are to burn the brush and
refuse. A cleaner sweep of the timber could not have been made under the
old methods. The only difference in methods is that where the forest
guards now do the fire protecting for the lumber trust, the homesteaders
formerly did it for their own protection. In January, 1914, the Forestry
Service issued a statement that the policy of the Service for the
Kaniksu Forest in Northern Idaho and Northeastern Washington would be to
have all that particular reserve logged off and then have the land
thrown open to settlement as homesteads. As the timber in that part of
the country will but little more than pay for the work of clearing the
land ready for the plow, but is very profitable where no clearing is
required, it can be readily seen that the Forestry Service was being
used as a means of dividing the fruit--the apples to the lumber trust,
the cores to the landless homeseekers.

One particular manner in which the Government protects the large lumber
companies is in the insurance against fire loss. When a tract has been
awarded to a bidder it is understood that he shall have all the timber
allotted to him, and that he shall stand no loss by fire. Should a tract
of timber be burned before it can be logged, the government allots to
the bidder another tract of timber "of equal value and of equal
accessibility," or an adjustment is made according to the ease of
logging and value of the timber. In this way the company has no expense
for insurance to bear, which even now with the fire protection that is
given by the Forestry Service is rated by insurance companies at about
ten per cent. of the value of the timber for each year.

No taxes or interest are required on the timber that is purchased from
the government. Another feature that makes this timber cheaper than that
of private holdings, is that to buy outright would entail the expense of
the first cost of the land and timber, the protection from fire, the
taxes and the interest on the investment. In addition to this there is
always the possibility that some homesteader would refuse to sell some
valuable tract that was in a vital situation, as holding the key to a
large tract of timber that had no other outlet