432 



CONSERVATION 



endless-chain crosscut saw herewith 

 shown is interesting as an invention for 

 which much is claimed. Driven by a 

 thirty horse-power gasoline engine, the 

 saw travels at a speed of 2,000 feet per 

 minute. It is said that it will fell a 

 tree eight feet in diameter in less than 

 fifteen minutes, and crosscut a log sec- 

 tion in eight minutes. The machine sits 

 on a turntable, and can be swung to cut 

 in all directions and angles without 

 moving the sled upon which it rests." 



With this clipping comes the inquiry 

 from a correspondent, "Do you use 

 your influence in preventing the patent- 

 ing and adoption and use of any such 

 devil of destruction as would be in- 

 ferred from the enclosed slip?" 



In Conservation for June was pub- 

 lished an editorial containing a letter 

 from a lumberman. A comparison of 

 that letter with the one above will sug- 

 gest to our readers the different view- 

 points taken on the forest question, all 

 of which, with its varied clientele, must 

 be considered by Conservation. 



To our last correspondent we an- 

 swer : 



Conservation, and the organization 

 and movement it represents, do not ob- 

 ject to improved machinery, whether 

 for lumbering or for any other useful 

 purpose. Time was when improved 

 machinery was looked upon as an en- 

 emy, if not of the human race, at least 

 of that section of it represented by the 

 laboring class. Some of these, in Eng- 

 land, for example, organized themselves 

 under the leadership of one Ludd, and 

 went about armed with big sticks 

 smashing looms. This view is now 

 hopelessly out of date. If work is to 

 be done and machinery can be used, let 

 it be used ; and the better the machinery 

 the more cordially it should be wel- 

 comed. 



That the introduction of improved 

 machinery raises problems in connec- 

 tion with the labor question, none ap- 

 preciate more keenly than the writer. 

 The remedy, however, lies not in smash- 

 ing the machinery, but in solving the 

 labor question. 



But suppose that, as in the case in 



hand, the machinery is to be employed 

 for the harvesting of lumber. Is it not 

 true, we are asked, that the forests are 

 already being slaughtered at a frightful 

 rate? 



The answer is, Unquestionably they 

 are. 



And shall we, then, encourage the 

 use of machinery which can facilitate 

 that slaughter? 



To which our answer, unhesitating 

 and unequivocal, must be, Yes. 



And how, then, does our position on 

 this question consist with our position 

 that forests should be conserved ? 



Following is our reply : 



The forests are for use. Of their 

 uses, two are conspicuous: i, For har- 

 vesting ; 2. For protection. 



The abuse appears when the harvest- 

 ing is unwisely done, as when trees too 

 small to be cut are cut and when trees 

 that should be preserved for protection 

 purposes are harvested. The remedy 

 must be sought not in impairing the 

 processes of harvesting, but in seeing, 

 first, that they are properly performed, 

 and, second, that they are applied only 

 to the trees that should be harvested 

 and not to the trees that should be pre- 

 served. 



And who shall exercise this super- 

 vision ? Here we repeat our familiar 

 declaration, that the community itself 

 must take a hand in this matter. Indi- 

 viduals may do something, and asso- 

 ciations, commercial or public-spirited, 

 may do more ; but the community, in its 

 organized form as city, state or nation, 

 or all together, must unquestionably as- 

 sert and exert itself if the evil is to be 

 avoided and the good conserved. 



«i «? J^ 

 Water-'power Grabs in Wisconsin 



T N LA FOLLETTE'S weekly maga- 

 1 zine for May 22 is an article under 

 the above heading bv State Senator 

 Winfield R. Gaylord, of Wisconsin. 



Senator Gaylord notes the existence 

 of the water-power trust against which 

 President Roosevelt warned Congress 

 and the country. He states that the 

 water-powers of Wisconsin have been 



