eneral public.

The condition of the forests of the country and the wasteful manner
in which their destruction is taking place give cause for serious
apprehension. Their action in protecting the earth's surface, in
modifying the extremes of climate, and in regulating and sustaining the
flow of springs and streams is now well understood, and their importance
in relation to the growth and prosperity of the country can not be
safely disregarded. They are fast disappearing before destructive fires
and the legitimate requirements of our increasing population, and their
total extinction can not be long delayed unless better methods than
now prevail shall be adopted for their protection and cultivation.
The attention of Congress is invited to the necessity of additional
legislation to secure the preservation of the valuable forests still
remaining on the public domain, especially in the extreme Western States
and Territories, where the necessity for their preservation is greater
than in less mountainous regions, and where the prevailing dryness of
the climate renders their restoration, if they are once destroyed,
well-nigh impossible.

The communication which I made to Congress at its first session, in
December last, contained a somewhat full statement of my sentiments in
relation to the principles and rules which ought to govern appointments
to public service.

Referring to the various plans which had theretofore been the subject
of discussion in the National Legislature (plans which in the main were
modeled upon the system which obtains in Great Britain, but which lacked
certain of the prominent features whereby that system is distinguished),
I felt bound to intimate my doubts whether they, or any of them, would
afford adequate remedy for the evils which they aimed to correct.

I declared, nevertheless, that if the proposed measures should prove
acceptable to Congress they would receive the unhesitating support of
the Executive.

Since these suggestions were submitted for your consideration there has
been no legislation upon the subject to which they relate, but there has
meanwhile been an increase in the public interest in that subject, and
the people of the country, apparently without distinction of party, have
in various ways and upon frequent occasions given expression to their
earnest wish for prompt and definite action. In my judgment such action
should no longer be postponed.

I may add that my own sense of its