Show R i K r 4 free reserve timber the govern government m ent during the past year has furnished 7 worth of timber to settlers and ranchers in or near the reserves without cli charge arge one of the reg v ions of the forest service provides that legitimate applicants may secure what timber they need by what is convenient ly called the free use privilege fifteen thousand permit tees in this way obtained timber to supply their wants from theise figures it may be readily seen that the settlers are securing very material assistance without cost from the forest reserves at the same time he free use business has been so 0 handled that the material taken out has improved the con I 1 of the forest dead which would other otherwise wige have retied rotted or helped to spread forest fires has been removed first of all where it was necessary for the settlers to have green wood tile the rangers so far as possible marked trees which were suppressed diseased or from some other cause no longer in a con for further growth in this way the ranchers secured material which they desired and at the same time the the forest was left stocked with the thrift iest trees whose chance to de delope will be unhindered tile the greatest amount of free use was on those reserves wh which bell lie in the semiarid semi arid parts of the west where there is least timber on a number tid niber of reserves 1 the value of the material materia l for which permits were issued exceeded and on oil affie wen aha reserve in washington and oregon the tha bear river reserve in utah and idaho and the weiser au and d henrys lake reserves in ill idaho it exceeded if there had been no restriction on the settlers in securing till this s material great waste would have resulted because the set tiers would have paid no attention to the future good of the forest or its value as a pi tive ec covering recovering another di distinct advantage of the system is that a settler when lie he has secured his permit is sure of bein being gable able to get the material from the lo io bality assigned to him without interference from other people very little change in the handling of the free use busi ness liess is contemplated for the next year the experience of the past year has shown how ever that methods can be so as to give yet better service to tile people and be moro more economical to the forest service this branch ot of the work of the forest service gives good evidence of the fact that the aim in the administration of the forest reserves is id to aid in ill tile the permanent developer petit of the country and place only such auch restrictions strict ions on oil tile the cutting of eftim tim ber as are necessary for the maintenance of a permanent timber supply and the conserva tion of water needed for irrigation for cities and for the generation of power the free use privilege lias has been granted grante d freely to ranchers who ore b building up homes and enough timber will be reserved t to 0 supply their wants even evan if this will considerably reduce the amount of timber that can be sold |