The timber in most of the Territories is principally
confined to the mountain regions, which are held for entry in small
quantities only, and as mineral lands. The timber is the property of the
United States, for the disposal of which there is now no adequate law.
The settler must become a consumer of this timber, whether he lives upon
the plain or engages in working the mines. Hence every man becomes
either a trespasser himself or knowingly a patron of trespassers.
My opportunities for observation were not sufficient to justify me in
recommending specific legislation on these subjects, but I do recommend
that a joint committee of the two Houses of Congress, sufficiently large
to be divided into subcommittees, be organized to visit all the mining
States and Territories during the coming summer, and that the committee
shall report to Congress at the next session such laws or amendments
to laws as it may deem necessary to secure the best interests of the
Government and the people of these Territories, who are doing so much
for their development.
I am sure the citizens occupying the territory described do not wish to
be trespassers, nor will they be if legal ways are provided for them to
become owners of these actual necessities of their position.
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