The Congressional Record

Appropriations Act Forbidding Further National Forests: Debates and Proceedings.

Procedure and debate surrounding the passage of H.R. 24815, which eventually became "An Act Making appropriations for the Department of Agriculture for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and eight." Sub-section, "Forest Service." (34 Stat. 1269-71), in the Second Session of the 59th Congress. The entire Agriculture Appropriations bill was discussed section by section by both the House and the Senate. Several portions of the bill were controversial and the debate was lengthy. In the debate on the Forest section issues of concern were whether or not permanent appropriations were a good idea; what the salary ranges for professional employees and political appointees in the department ought to be; the proper course of management for the national forests and the powers of the Secretary of Agriculture; the role of forests in protecting watersheds and in irrigation; the respective rights of the federal government, the states, and individual property owners in the western lands; and whether homesteading in forest reserves was permissible. The main point of the bill for forest conservation was that it renamed the forest reserves as national forests and that no more national forests could be created or enlarged in the West except by Act of Congress.

Widely scattered pages selected from the complete record. These pages report the report back from the House Committee on Agriculture by Representative Wadsworth (H.R. Report 6597), debate in the House, amendment and passage in the House, referral to the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, report back to the Senate with amendments (S. Report 6829), debate in the Senate, amendment and passage in the Senate, appointment of conference committee, conference report made, debate of conference report in the House, second conference appointed, agreement to conference report, signing by the Speaker of the House and the Vice President. The signing by President Roosevelt is omitted in the Congressional Record.

There are additional passages of debate on other sections of the Agriculture apprporiations bill on pages 1697-1728, 1745-59, 1765-81, and 1964-87, which are not included here.