ii8 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



tion or obstruction to the passage of the 

 Weeks bill will be directed against a 

 policy of the President — a part of the 

 conservation program adopted and put 

 forth by him. 



)^ 5¥ )^ 



The Appalachian Bill Once More 



ONCE again this publication appeals 

 to its readers for aid in promoting 

 the enactment of the Appalachian Bill. 



In various forms and under different 

 names, this legislation has long been 

 before Congress. Three times it has 

 passed the Senate and once the House ; 

 but again its friends must begin prac- 

 tically de novo and perform their first 

 works over. 



Clearly, the need for this legislation 

 increases as time passes. The woods 

 are falling, the fires are raging, sand- 

 bars are filling the streams, dams are 

 silting up and damages almost irrep- 

 arable are, by this long-protracted de- 

 lay, being effected. But still inertia 

 characterizes the management of our 

 National Legislature. 



Not only so, but open opposition is 

 showing its head with a boldness hith- 

 erto rarely observed. The paper of 

 Lieutenant Colonel Chittenden together 

 with other hostile literature, arlorns 

 the desks of numerous congressmen, 

 plainly testifying that the foes of 

 Appalachian legislation are busy. 



This, of course, is in line with events 

 now all too familiar. Readers of this 

 publication know of the series of at- 

 tacks on the conservation movement 

 and its chief proponents : the failure to 

 provide a modest appropriation for the 

 maintenance of the National Conserva- 

 tion Commission, the attempt, largely 

 successful, to suppress the report 

 of that commission, the astounding 

 Tawney amendment to the Sundry 

 Civil Bill, and the declaration of war, 

 semi-privately then, it is true, on the 

 leaders of the conservation movement, 

 all came months ago. But the tree 

 then planted is bearing its fruit. The 

 work of the Reclamation Service has 

 been discouraged, if not demoralized; 

 the Nrtional Forest Service has been 

 dofrivcfl of its famous and most ef- 



fective head, more conservation litera- 

 ture has been suppressed, water-power 

 bills in the interest of private concerns 

 abound in congressional committee- 

 rooms, the inland waterways move- 

 ment has been "beared" by the com- 

 mission which went abroad presumably 

 in its behalf, and it is now but nat- 

 ural to expect that foes of Appalachian 

 legislation will take courage and arm 

 themselves openly for the fray. 



That the activity of enemies of this 

 legislation should be met by equal and 

 greater activity on the part of its 

 friends, goes without saying. Good 

 legislation does not enact itself. What 

 the people want they must fight for. If 

 they regard their legislators as their 

 masters, they must be satisfied with 

 such legislation as they can get. If, 

 on the contrary, they regard them as 

 their servants, they must act accord- 

 ingly and show their faith by their 

 works. Ordinarily speaking, legislators 

 are interested in good legislation only 

 when their constituents are also inter- 

 ested, and tremendously so, in the 

 same. To rely upon Congress to care 

 well for the people's requirements with- 

 out having those requirements pressed 

 upon Congress by the people, is to rest 

 upon a broken reed. If friends of the 

 protection of the forests in the White 

 and Southern Appalachian mountains 

 desire results at this session, they must 

 promptly bestir themselves. They must 

 state their wants to their senators and 

 representatives in unmistakable terms 

 and in tones that will not accept no for 

 an answer. Thus proceeding, what- 

 ever be the form of House organiza- 

 tion, or the attitude of the Speaker, they 

 can secure the passage of this bill. 

 Otherwise, it is already doomed, dead, 

 and buried. 



«.' «r' )^ 



The First National Forests 



THE inclusion in a report in Conser- 

 vation for October of a statement 

 "that Mr. Cleveland established the 

 first National Forests," brought from 

 Robert Underwood John son. of the Cen- 

 tury Magazine, than whom nooneis more 

 conversant with the facts, a letter call- 



