knowledge of the field to be covered and trained in business and executive affairs. As members of the Commission of Forestry provided for in the Act, I appointed Messrs. E. F. Allison, John L. Kaul, J. W. LeMaistre, J. Lee Long and W. M. Spencer. No special appropriation was required for compensation for these men who have willingly devoted their services in this important work without pay. The Commission elected as its Secretary and State Forester Colonel Page S. Bunker, a forester of broad and successful experience in private, municipal, state and federal practice and familiar with the organization and operation of public departments.

The technical, administrative and field work of the department, however, necessitated certain funds. These are provided for in the law by devoting the license fees from the industries that are most directly benefited to the work of renewing the resources upon which such industries are based. Within the state the forest industries have contributed the entire cost, notwithstanding that numerous direct and incidental benefits have accrued to the commonwealth as a whole. The restoring and maintaining of the forest resources of the state meanwhile afford these industries an opportunity for the development rather than the continued prospect of rapid decline. This development results in increased or retained property values such as manufacturing plants, timber stands, etc., the direct taxes on which, paid into the general fund, will more than offset the license fees devoted to the State forestry work.

The Commission entered into an agreement with the Federal Government whereby the latter supplies substantially half the funds expended in fire prevention. The allotment received for this purpose is equal to the highest awarded to any state. From a total of 36 percent of our forest land burned over, which was approximately the current average prior to the organization of the Commission's work, the proportion was reduced to 34 per cent in 1924, 16 per cent in 1925 and 7 per cent in 1926.

The law authorizing the acceptance by the Commission of gifts of land as State Forests. Thus far three such tracts have been donated. These areas are used not only for demonstrational and experimental purposes but also as outdoor recreational centers and have been visited by thousands of citizens. In addition to fulfilling their fundamental uses, therefore, State Forests also serve the purpose of woodland parks. While the utilization of park areas is recreational rather than economic, the protection, engineering development and administration of forest areas and wild land parks are supbstantially identical. In fact, as has occurred in various other states, the recreational use of State Forests apparently solves the question of state parks, especially

insofar as rough land areas are concerned; meanwhile from the administrative and fiscal standpoints but one departmental overhead is required.

I have been gratified to note the fiscal policy of the Commission of Forestry in limiting expenditures to purposes and objects of definite and immediate necessity. In fact, for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1924, over half of the appropriation was returned to the Treasury, notwithstanding that theCommission was strongly urged from various quarters to spend the entire appropriation. The same was true for the year ending September 30, 1925. The department is now a going concern and the entire amount available will necessarily be expended each year, notwithstanding rigid economy in the use of funds.

With the added information now available through the operation of the Forestry Act, various suggestions have been made as to further legislation. Among these are that the Commission be given jurisdiction over lands forfeited to the State through nonpayment of taxes that are of special value for State Forest purposes, that the balances in the State Forestry Fund at the close of the fiscal year be continued to the credit of the same fund during the ensuing fiscal year as was intended in the original Act, that the Commission be authorized to use unexpended and unobligated portions of the State Forestry Fund for the acquisition of State Forests, that the laws on timber trespass be made more specific and practical, and that the enforcement of the spark arrestor law be vested in the Commission of Forestry.

ALABAMA PARK COMMISSION

With a realization of the importance of the health and happiness of our people, our National Government many years ago established the policy of reserving certain areas of the public domain for conservation and recreational purposes. Locations of great scenic beauty have become National Parks and other areas have been made forest and conservation reserves. Following the precedent set by our National Government the majority of the States of the Union have entered upon a policy of fostering a system of State parks. In 1901 when the Legislature created the Alabama State Department of Archives and History, it directed that that Department should, where possible, take over all abandoned town sites, old Indian mounds and town sites, old fort sites and any other historic or interesting points in the State and make of them public reservations or parks. The intent of that Act has been carried out throughout the twenty-six years of the Department's history to as wide an extent as the means at hand and opportunities afforded. However, the development of the public

park idea as now operating throughout the country, anticipates a wider public use of the recreational areas than dreamed of more than a quarter of a century ago. Acting upon information laid before me by the Director of the Department of Archives and History and by representatives of the National Conference on State Parks, on April 15, 1925, by Executive order, I created the Alabama Park Commission. The personnel of this Commission was selected from men interested in the great outdoor movement and natural conservation and a considerable body of data has been collected for future consideration.

Included in this material is information to the effect that the Governor holds ownership of a tract of above 1,600 acres in Cherokee and DeKalb Counties, known as May's Gulf, which is rugged in scenery, accessible by highways and located near a well developed summer resort section of the State. Congressman M. C. Allgood has secured the passage of a Congressional Act withdrawing this public land from entry and has had a nominal price fixed upon the acreage with the expectation that the State of Alabama will purchase the tract for one of its proposed State Parks. A bill to that effect will be presented early in the sessions of this body and I earnestly hope it will receive your favorable consideration. Other tracts of land affording unique and beautiful scenic attractions, suitable for park purposes, have been tendered to the Commission at very low rates or in some cases as gifts to the State. I, therefore, feel that the activities of the Commission during the brief period of its existence deserve commendation and should receive the co-operation of all of our people.

In order that every type of outdoor life shall be available for public use for recreational and conservation purposes, the Commission is inquiring into the possibility of securing on the Gulf, the now abandoned government fort, Fort Morgan, in Baldwin County, with sufficient acreage for a seacoast recreational center. Congressman Lister Hill, member of the Military Affairs Committee of Congress, is co-operating with the Commission looking to the best possible proposals from the Govern→ ment to the State in regard to the acquisition of that location. The examples set out here are but a few of the locations that may, with proper legislative support come into possession of the State through the efforts of the State Park Commission and the Department of Archives and History. I strongly urge upon this Legislature the importance of enacting a law which will make the Alabama Park Commission an official body, giving it such duties and responsibilities and powers as will best carry out the intents and purposes for which it is created. The personnel of the Cimmission as now created serves without compensation but

in order that the future personnel shall feel free to make necessary trips of investigation as to suitable sites, and to hold such meetings for conference as are necessary for the work, I suggest that an appropriation shall be made to cover the expense entailed in the performance of these duties. In order that a complete cooperation may exist between the historical parks reservations now delegated to the administration of the Department of Arhives and History and the Alabama Park Commission, I advise that the plan of naming the Director of the Department of Archives and History as Ex-Officio Secretary of the State Park Commission be enacted into the law.

DEPARTMENT OF GAME AND FISHERIES

Splendid progress has been made in the protection, conservation, and rehabilitation of the useful forms of the wild life of field, forest, and stream, during the past quadrennium. The revenues collected by this Department from the sale of hunters. trappers, and non-resident fishing licenses, fines from game and fish violations, and revenues collected in conection with the sea food industry has shown a decided increase in the past four years over the preceding quadrenium.

Below is given the annual receipts from the above mentioned sources, and the disbursements for the several purposes for which these revenues were collected:

It would not be amiss also, to call your attention to the fact that the enforcement of the conservation statutes as relates to wild life resources, although our Department has the smallest force of any State in the Union, has led all of the States in the number of cases made and convictions obtained in proportion to the the number of wardens employed.

According to the quadrennial report recently submitted by the Commissioner of Game and Fisheries, there were convicted during the past quadrennium a total of 3,151 violators of the game protection laws. Of these 91% were pleas of guilty, and 97% of the remaining 9% who demanded trial in the courts of the State were convicted by the courts. These figures would indicate that the sentiment of the public is almost solidly behind the Department in its enforcement program.

The Legislature of 1923 upon the recommendation of the Commissioner of Game and Fisheries, created the Fish Hatchery Fund, the source of which revenues come from fishing violations and the small revenues accruing from the sale of non resident licenses. From these funds, Alabama's first fish hatchery was constructed in 1925, and put into operation. The successful operation of this our State's first hatchery is evidenced by the fact that every citizen of the State who made application for fish to plant in protected waters of his community received a consignment of fish for that purpose.

Alabama should have more fish hatcheries-at least one in each Congressional District of the State, but this cannot be done unless new sources of revenue for this purpose are found. My suggestion is that it would be well for this Legislature to impose a nominal fishing license fee on all males above the age of sixteen years with similar modifications and restrictions as are now placed on hunting licenses. Hunters, as such, through the purchase of hunting licenses contribute every penny of money to preserve, conserve and rehabilitate all wild life in the State, including fish, and in all fairness, fishermen as such should be expected to contribute their share of the revenues to perpetuate their sport and to afford them economic and profitable sport and a wholesome food supply.

There are thousands of acres of wild land in the State suitable for the habitat of useful forms of wild life, and the Department