THE APPALACHIAN FORESTS 



69 



has been completely confuted by Prof. 

 George F. Swain, the expert formerly 

 of the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- 

 nology, now of Harvard University. 

 The hostile opinion of the military en- 

 gineering officer is in direct opposition 

 to that of the entire force engaged un- 

 der the Forester of the United States. 

 It is in direct opposition to the experi- 

 ence of China, of France, and of Spain, 

 where the denudation of forest-clad 

 hills has led to a succession of freshets 

 and droughts on what were once fertile 

 slopes and, except where reforestation 

 has taken place, has reduced the agri- 

 cultural population that once tilled 

 those soils by sweeping away the very 

 soil itself. 



Mr. James S. Whipple, forest com- 

 missioner of New York, very truly said 

 in his address at Bretton Woods, N. H., 

 last summer^ of the forest as a na- 

 tional reservoir: "Without forests we 

 can have but little water. A study of 

 this natural reservoir proves the im- 

 portance and imperative necessity of 

 preserving our forests. Let us ex- 

 amine it : The trees are part of it ; 

 the leaves on the trees are part of it ; 

 the twigs, old logs, limbs, and fallen 

 leaves are a part of it. All of these 

 catch, delay, and hold back the rain- 

 drops as they fall. If you will observe 

 the conditions of the forest floor you 

 will notice that between the trees there 

 are little basins in the ground, caused 

 by the roots of the trees holding up the 

 soil. These basins catch and hold the 

 rain. Then underneath it all. formed 

 from decaying leaves, twigs, limbs, and 

 logs for a thousand years, is a black 

 mold called humus. This humus has 

 greater power to take up and hold 

 moisture than any other know vegetable 

 or animal matter. Then the leaves, 

 limbs, trees, the dead and decaying 

 debris upon the ground, the little hol- 

 lows or basins between the trees, and 

 this humus are all parts of this perfect 

 reservoir, built on nature's plan, detain- 

 ing, holding, and keeping back the 

 water, allowing it to soak into the 

 ground to feed the little springs, thence 

 the creeks, and keep the water flowing 

 slowly from the hills all the year round. 



"On the other hand, when the forest 

 is cut away, the basins are broken down, 

 all obstructions to the flow of water are 

 removed, the humus is destroyed, and 

 nature's reservoir is swept away, allow- 

 ing the water to run quickly into the 

 larger streams, causing destructive 

 floods. Many times great damage and 

 sometimes unhealthful conditions fol- 

 low. When the storm is over, the flood 

 subsides, the water is soon gone, and 

 dry creek-beds appear. 



"Last August the upper Hudson had 

 no more than two inches of water where 

 once it flowed deep and strong the year 

 round. The water last August in Lakes 

 George and Champlain was a foot and 

 a half lower than ever before. 



"More than 300 years ago France, 

 in an evil day, permitted that which we 

 are now permitting, to wit : the cutting 

 off of all its trees, which left its hillsides 

 and mountain tops uncovered. The 

 agricultural lands were much injured ; 

 the water supply much reduced. It had 

 no forest, the hillsides were eroded, the 

 soil was washed away. Then a splen- 

 did man, realizing the enormity of the 

 evil that had come to his country, 

 started out on a campaign of education 

 over France, urging the people to plant 

 trees. Since then the French people 

 have expended more than two hundred 

 million dollars in trying to reforest their 

 waste land, and they have more work 

 yet to do." 



The opponents of Appalachian forest 

 reserves present as their second objec- 

 tion : 



2. The acquisition of forest reserves 

 by the National Government is uncon- 

 stitutional. 



Why? 



The Constitution in terms was or- 

 dained and established to "promote the 

 general w^elfare." If the establishment 

 of a permanent source of timber sup- 

 ply, the preservation of water and of 

 water-power, the drainage of cities, and 

 the preservation of the public health, 

 all of which are provided by the acqui- 

 sition of forest reserves, do not make 

 for the promotion of the general wel- 

 fare, what in heaven's name does make 

 for it? 



