170 



CONSERVATION 



The report continues : ' ' The afforesta- 

 tion of suitable lands in the United King- 

 dom, if undertaken on an adequate scale and 

 in accordance with well-recognized scientific 

 principles, would prove at present prices a 

 sound and remunerative investment. In esti- 

 mating the profits of sylviculture, account 

 must, moreover, be taken of two facts— the 

 increasing consumption of timber per head 

 of population all over the world in spite of 

 the introduction of alternative materials, and, 

 further, the exploitation, waste and destruc- 

 tion by fire of the virgin forests, especially 

 those yielding the more important building 

 timbers. 



Already a noticeable shortage of timber 

 supply has resulted, as is evidenced by stead- 

 ily rising prices and depreciating qualities in 

 all markets. It seems impossible to escape 

 from the conclusion that this tendency will 

 be continued and accentuated, and that a 

 steady and very considerable rise in prices 

 may be looked for throughout the present 

 century. 



"The amount of land suitable for affores- 

 tation, but not now under timber, in the 

 United Kingdom may roughly be put at a 

 maximum of 9,000,000 acres. A forest of 

 9,000,000 acres, in which are represented the 

 various series of age classes, may be expect- 

 ed to yield 9,000,000 loads annually in per- 

 petuity. The importation of foreign timber 

 from temperate cHmates into the United 

 Kingdom in the year 1907 exceeded 8,500,000 

 loads, or approximately the annual supply 

 which could be expected from the afforesta- 

 tion of the above-mentioned area. 



Fortunately wood, unlike metals and 

 minerals, can be renewed. The fore- 

 going report, and the growing senti- 

 ment in the United States in favor of 

 reforestation, of which Secretary Wil- 

 son's speech is a splendid example, are 

 encouraging signs of a turning in the 

 tide of forest wastefulness, and of the 

 gradual replacement of what the world 

 has already lost. 



^ J^ «« 



The President Attacks the Waters-power 

 Monopoly 



r^ ONGRESS recently passed House 

 ^ Bill No. 17,707, authorizing Will- 

 iam H. Standish to construct a dam 

 across James River in Stone County, 

 Missouri, and divert part of its waters 

 through a tunnel for electric power. 

 This bill the President vetoed on Jan- 

 uary 15, saying, "My reasons for not 



signing the bill are that it gives the 

 grantee a valuable privilege which by 

 its very nature is monopolistic and does 

 not contain the conditions essential to 

 public interest." 



Another case in point the President 

 found in that of the Desplaines River 

 in Illinois, speaking of which he said: 



"The great corporations are acting with 

 foresight, singleness of purpose and vigor to 

 control the water powers of the country. They 

 pay no attention to state boundaries and are 

 not interested in the constitutional law affect- 

 ing navigable streams. It is significant that 

 they are opposing the control of water power 

 on the Desplaines River by the State of Illi- 

 nois with equal vigor and like arguments to 

 those with which they oppose the National 

 Government pursuing the policy I advocate. 

 Their attitude is the same with reference to 

 their projects upon the mountain streams of 

 the West, where the jurisdiction of the Fed- 

 eral Government as the owner of the public 

 lands and National Forests is not open to 

 question. * * * The people of the coun- 

 try are threatened by a monopoly far more 

 powerful, because in far closer touch with 

 their domestic and industrial life than anything 

 known to our experience. A single genera- 

 tion will see the exhaustion of our natural 

 resources of oil and gas, and such a rise in 

 the price of coal, as will make the price of 

 electrically transmitted water power a controll- 

 ing factor in transportation, in manufactur- 

 ing and in household lighting and heating. 

 * * * No grant of this kind should be made 

 except as it provides for a fee to secure title 

 to the people and for termination of the 

 grant or privilege at a definite time. I will 

 sign no bill granting a privilege of this char- 

 acter which does not contain the substance 

 of these conditions. I consider myself 

 bound, as far as exercise of my executive 

 power will allow, to do for the people, in 

 prevention of monopoly of their resources, 

 what I believe they would do for themselves, 

 if they were in a position to act." 



Here, again, the President takes high 

 ground on a vital issue. We have all 

 heard of monopoly of land, oil, coal, 

 gas, street railways, telephones, etc., but 

 water-power monopoly is, doubtless, for 

 many, something new under the sun. 

 Of the menace represented by it the 

 President speaks in terms strong 

 enough to arrest attention. 



Note the situation. Mechanical power 

 is essential to modern life. It has been 

 produced from oil, gas and, especially, 

 coal. These are fast disappearing. The 

 coming great source of such power is 



