OUR FOREST WEALTH 179 



Such a recreation ground is a crying national necessity. As a 

 people,, we work too much and rest too little. Herbert Spencer, when 

 in America years ago, declared that we had heard enough of " the 

 gospel of work," and that what we most needed was " the gospel of 

 relaxation." Since then the situation has grown worse rather than 

 better. It is the old story of " all work and no play " ; and the effects 

 are seen in nervous prostration, insanity and suicide. 



Again, from the economic standpoint this area is invaluable. It 

 contains our last remaining, important stand of hard woods. Forest 

 Service statistics, the prices of lumber and all wood products — mount- 

 ing by leaps and bounds — and common observation unite in testifying 

 that our timber resources are being consumed and wasted in prodigal 

 fashion and at a startling rate. The Southern Appalachian forests, 

 however, the hand of the spoiler has delayed to enter ; and, though the 

 supplies, once thought inexhaustible, of New England and the Great 

 Lake regions are practically gone, this area still contains a vast and 

 priceless stock of the choicest timber on the continent. 



We have heard of the " new south." It is the industrial south ; 

 the south of the railroad, the furnace, the loom and the spindle. 

 From the purely agricultural, this section is rapidly entering upon the 

 manufacturing stage. Irrespective of the question of labor, for such 

 activity it enjoys some special advantages. Its staple, cotton, is near 

 the mill, and its water-power facilities are magnificent. 



Like many other things, power is a creature of evolution; first, it 

 manifests through human strength ; then, through " the energizing of 

 brutes"; later, through wind and water crudely applied; and then, as 

 the Yankee said, through water " biled," releasing, thus, the titan, 

 steam, at whose feet, it has seemed, the very earth lay prostrate. 



But the waning of the steam-engine is already in sight. New 

 powers are appearing on the scene; the next of which, we may well 

 believe, is electricity. 



What a coal vein is to the steam-engine, a waterfall is to the 

 dynamo. 



As indicated, the Southern Appalachians abound in magnificent 

 falls ; from these, electric power can be developed cheaply and in great 

 abundance. With the introduction of means of transmission it now 

 becomes possible, instead of carrying the plant to the power, to bring 

 the power to the plant. The gain is obvious. 



The possibilities of electric power as applied to manufacturing 

 in the south may be appreciated when it is known that North Carolina, 

 South Carolina and Georgia alone maintain cotton mills operated by 

 water power which produce annually a product valued at over $60,000,- 

 000. " The water power of this southern region already developed or 

 being developed is estimated at 500.000 horse-power. The uncle- 



