THE APPALACHIAN FOREST CAMPAIGN 



The hearing on the Weeks bill, which is 

 quite fully reported in other pages of this 

 magazine, was continued on Tuesday and 

 Wednesday, the ist and 2d of March,_ in 

 order to hear the testimony from Mr. Willis 

 L. Moore, Chief of the Weather Bureau, and 

 from some of the army engineers. The first 

 ■witness at the Tuesday session was Major J. 

 D. Cavanaugh, Assistant Chief of Engineers. 

 Major Cavanaugh has had several years ex- 

 perience with rivers in Georgia and Alabama 

 and testified with great fairness and modera- 

 tion as to the opinions which he had formed 

 from this experience. Major Cavanaugh was 

 ■extremely frank in his statements and 

 showed an entire lack of prejudice and a 

 desire to be perfectly fair and to speak as a 

 scientific and practical man rather than as a 

 proponent of any theory. One of his most 

 notable statements was to the effect that 

 there is no question as to the protection of 

 slopes by forests. "That," he said, "is one 

 •of the primary uses of forestry," and he cited 

 France as a notable example. 



Mr. Moore followed Major Cavanaugh. 

 He recited his education and scientific train- 

 ing and experience and presented letters in- 

 dorsing the position which he had taken in 

 his recent report. Mr. Moore did not stand 

 up well under the searching cross-examina- 

 tion of Representatives Lever and Plumley 

 ■of the committee. Professor Swain was also 

 present at the hearing and asked Mr. Moore 

 some troublesome questions from the knowl- 

 edge of a scientific expert. Mr. Moore ac- 

 knowledged during the questioning that he 

 was not a geologist, nor a forester, nor a 

 hydrologist, admissions which weaken his 

 authority on the subject dealt with in his 

 report. 



On the following day, Major W. H. Bixby, 

 of the Corps of Engineers, and Capt. E. N. 

 Johnson, of the same corps, testified. Major 

 Bixby, an able officer and engineer, spoke 

 mainly of his experience with the Mississippi 

 and Missouri rivers, and his position was 

 that which has become well known through 

 the discussions by Colonel Chittenden and 

 others as the position of the majority of 

 members of the Engineer Corps. Colonel 

 Bixby did not, however, apply his reasoning 

 ■or his facts directly to the conditions in the 

 Appalachian Mountains, his argument con- 

 tinually going back to the conditions which 

 are peculiar to the Missouri and Mississippi. 



Captain Johnson disclaimed any intention 

 of advancing opinions or statements of his 

 own, but appeared to lay before the com- 

 mittee certain reports and documents which 

 were in the hands of the Corps of Engineers, 

 his purpose being apparently quite as much 

 to defend the engineer corps from charges 

 of unwise expenditure of the public funds 

 as to present any points in regard to the 

 Weeks Bill or any other legislation. His 

 statements were clear and well put, and he 

 presented a strong case for the achievements 

 of his corps. He was the last witness to 

 appear before the committee. It was made 

 clear that as regards navigation the army 

 engineers generally pin their faith to work on 

 the channels of streams and to bank protec- 

 tion, and have little faith in forestry; but 

 on their own admissions the case as regards 

 forest protection is still an open one, on 

 which the authorities are divided. 



It is improbable that any votes in the 

 committee were influenced by the hearings, 

 but it is understood that some members of 

 the committee agree with the position taken 

 by Mr. Weeks, that this bill really belongs 

 to the House, and will vote to report it re- 

 gardless of their personal views and the ac- 

 tion they may take individually on the floor 

 of the House. 



)t' J^ $^ 



A Clear Cut Resolution 



The following strong resolution was 

 adopted by the American Civic Association 

 at its Cincinnati meeting, November 16 : 



"We reiterate our demand upon Congress 

 for the establishment of National Forest 

 Reserves in the northern and southern Ap- 

 palachian regions, believing that this is a 

 national issue, beyond the effective juris- 

 diction of any state or group of states, and 

 vital to the welfare of almost the entire 

 eastern half of the United States, and that 

 every year's delay in their establishment adds 

 mightily to the penalty of indifference that 

 the Nation must pay." 



This association, with its national scope 

 and interests, representing the best public 

 spirit of the country, has steadfastly sup- 

 ported the Appalachian National Forests 

 project. The case has never been presented 

 in the same number of words better than in 

 this resolution. 



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