apt to produce a disturbing effect upon the service as
well as on the Indians themselves." Since then, the committee having
reported, the question has been decided in the negative by a vote in
the House of Representatives.

For the reasons here stated, and in view of the fact that further
uncertainty on this point will be calculated to obstruct other
much-needed legislation, to weaken the discipline of the service, and
to unsettle salutary measures now in progress for the government and
improvement of the Indians, I respectfully recommend that the decision
arrived at by Congress at its last session be permitted to stand.

The efforts made by the Department of the Interior to arrest the
depredations on the timber lands of the United States have been
continued, and have met with considerable success. A large number of
cases of trespass have been prosecuted in the courts of the United
States; others have been settled, the trespassers offering to make
payment to the Government for the value of the timber taken by them.
The proceeds of these prosecutions and settlements turned into the
Treasury far exceed in amount the sums appropriated by Congress for
this purpose. A more important result, however, consists in the fact
that the destruction of our public forests by depredation, although
such cases still occur, has been greatly reduced in extent, and it
is probable that if the present policy is vigorously pursued and
sufficient provision to that end is made by Congress such trespasses,
at least those on a large scale, can be entirely suppressed, except
in the Territories, where timber for the daily requirements of the
population can not, under the present state of the law, be otherwise
obtained. I therefore earnestly invite the attention of Congress to
the recommendation made by the Secretary of the Interior, that a law
be enacted enabling the Government to sell timber from the public
lands without conveying the fee, where such lands are principally
valuable for the timber thereon, such sales to be so regulated as to
conform to domestic wants and business requirements, while at the
same time guarding against a sweeping destruction of the forests. The
enactment of such a law appears to become a more pressing necessity
every day.

My recommendations in former messages are renewed in favor of
enlarging the facilities of the Department of Agriculture. Agriculture
is the leading interest and the permanent industry of our peopl