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Show lUllLimld fUlPi BETTEH ROADS improved Highways Declared De-clared Vital to Development Develop-ment of U. S. Reserves. Other Improvements Urged at Closing Session of Conference. ' lio.nl l.-v.-.,iMiM-ii! ;iimI o:.i-r im,'n.v- tii.-nt in lh.: national i.M'.s:.-! -:P- ti-'r itnc-L iinr'"ri:iii'i. .u,.j..i,- df (liK-u-i.i(fi ;U I In- . in-iinx it--Min fif lh; fivc-.l;iy ronrVr-ftn-r. of ft- It-nil H'-ivi'. ofr'i-iaU yrHlcnlay t ' I 't'ihmiij ;i t the N'-W.iciist hot Iiii-m-hn.; tii" c'-.lMum' fn.-ilitl.-rt fur I i-ii v.-l iii i rj .iij'I thniufch thu frn i-st.-i, ac-.orrlln ac-.orrlln to A i :i I a 1 1 L Fon-HW-r lt;t y llrad-!-:, , !. -f of th- tiiiiiu li itf oiMTJitioiiH, who i.-i inn' of the. ri-prost-Mitiit Iv.-H of tin- W'ay'i- 1 1 ton ol'fi.'tr in i ! iu i.-iiiifcrt' i !', ik nece:-:-.iiiv if Ml' fort-MM ill''- to lit: U :-,:(! to CH- )Kfit.. This In particularly true if th.-ir iiMti for !' ffiitioii purpu.-o-.s 1h to h(; said. "Tlij outdoor iifr niov -firn-iiL miM th 'Srr AriM-i'irii First' i.P'ii hiy taking a ironi; io.hl mi tin- A n u-ricii n puMic," i:ti(l Ml1. llralh-. "We waul Hie national tor-i-.-.ts lo .;njoyl, Lot:) as local play- Ki'onihls and as places ul' srtnic beauty to lit- visi Ltjt liy persons crossing tlu; con- tllM-Ill. "Kt.vv people in the cast have buri to r-aha- as y-L what a wealth of attractions I In- west possesses. Tilt- na I ional for. is Its conl ain many of thh 1'ine.st attractions ot the west. Hon ds Being Built. "Tin- western states are spending money very freely fur r;ood roads. The na t tonal ton 'Ml s arc not subject to taxes, so the only way the cderai ovcrnmi'iit can fulfill ful-fill its responsll'ilit les to the states and local com in unities as a landowner is by makin.LV available part of the receipts for public purposes and by road hutldinK. either in eooperji t ion with state and local agencies or Independently. "(if special Import a nee is t he development develop-ment of roads winch will enable settlers and small communities in and near the forests to have belter means of conimuni-i conimuni-i cation and transportation. "1 toads also help to open up the forests for-ests to use and to increase the receipts of the government from the forests. Of course, they are of the utmost value to the government in connection with fire j pro! ect ton. To be able to ttet to a fire i cttiiekly may mean the difference between i its immediate ext inauishment by one or j I wo men and a fih t by many men for days or weeks. Usefulness Primary Aim. "Some people suppose this is the ehief interest of the forest service in getting roads into the forests. That is far from t rue. We are not Interested merely in pro tee ting t he property of the 'government, 'govern-ment, for we consider our most impor-ta impor-ta nt duty is to work out methods by which the forests will be of most use to the public. ; "Peie'.opment of the properties as aids i to the prosperity and all-round welfare i of the local population is, therefore, the j keynote of what we are trying to do. W'r- mean that the forests shall help luiikl ii)the couiilrv everv wav thev can. 'I'lial is why improvements tt all kinds are so 1 ni port a n t. "W'at.-r developments, drift fenees and various otlu'r kinds of range improvements improve-ments enable us l.o take care of more sto'k on the ranK and Lo take care of It het ler. '".'el. -phone lines ami range stations not only enable us to protect the forests hotter, hut also increase our facilities for serving the convenience of the public. All our various kinds of improvements are aids to development. Improvements Planned. "We have plans ahead, comprehensively comprehensive-ly framed, so that we can go on from year to year carrying out a unified scheme, not doing a IHtle hero and a little there, piecemeal. "We are studying these plans carefully all the time, to the end that we may attain the best results possible from the standpoint of serving public needs and handling our tasks efficiently. "For road building we have money from three sources. Ten per cent of-the .gross receipts from the forests, amounting amount-ing to about HOn.nno for the current year, is made by congress a special road fund for use within the forests. The federal fed-eral aid-roads act appropriated $1.000, not) a year for construction of roads opening up the forests, in cooperation with states and counties. "The postoffice appropriation act a year ago provided $3,000,000 a year for three years for national forest roads. ' "While these amounts seem large in the aggregate, it must be remembered that the national forests cover a very great amount of territory, and that this territory is, on the whole, the least developed de-veloped part of the country and the roughest and hardest to put roads through. It will be a good ma..." years before the forests are fully prov;dfti with roads and other improvements, but each year will see a gain, and each gain will mean more usefulness of the forests to the public." |