Message to Congress

To the Senate and House of Representatives:

I transmit herewith for the information of the Congress a letter from the Secretary of Agriculture, in which he presents a preliminary report of investigations upon the forests of the southern Appalachian Mountain region. Upon the basis of the facts established by this investigation the Secretary of Agriculture recommends the purchase of land for a national forest reserve in western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, and adjacent States. I commend to the favorable consideration of Congress the reasons upon which this recommendation rests.

WILLIAM McKINLEY