I invite the attention of Congress to the recommendations made by
the Secretary of the Interior with regard to the preservation of the
timber on the public lands of the United States. The protection of
the public property is one of the first duties of the Government. The
Department of the Interior should therefore be enabled by sufficient
appropriations to enforce the laws in that respect. But this matter
appears still more important as a question of public economy. The
rapid destruction of our forests is an evil fraught with the gravest
consequences, especially in the mountainous districts, where the rocky
slopes, once denuded of their trees, will remain so forever. There
the injury, once done, can not be repaired. I fully concur with
the Secretary of the Interior in the opinion that for this reason
legislation touching the public timber in the mountainous States and
Territories of the West should be especially well considered, and
that existing laws in which the destruction of the forests is not
sufficiently guarded against should be speedily modified. A general
law concerning this important subject appears to me to be a matter of
urgent public necessity.

From the organization of the Government the importance of encouraging
by all possible means the increase of our agricultural productions
has been acknowledged and urged upon the attention of Congress and the
people as the surest and readiest means of increasing our substantial
and enduring prosperity.

The words of Washington are as applicable to-day as when, in his
eighth annual message, he said:

It will not be doubted that, with reference either to