250 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



and these expenditures result in a 

 special benefit to the people of the 

 western states. They create rich prizes 

 for the careless freebooters who throng 

 a new country, and instead of giving 

 away privileges it becomes necessary to 

 guard them closely. Why then, should 

 not the national domains provided for 

 the people of the whole country and 

 which are maintained by the people of 

 the whole country, bear their fair share 

 through those who use them of the ex- 

 pense incurred in their maintenance? 

 The time is coming, undoubtedly, when 

 the western forests will more than pay 

 their own expenses and will yield a re- 

 turn to the national treasury. This is 

 the experience of all countries which 

 have a national forest policy ; but at 

 present they are a source of expense 

 which all the states pay. 



We have quoted the article from the 

 Chieftain fully, with some notes of our 

 own, because we feel that the writer 

 and ourselves are not so far apart on 

 the general principle and that we could 

 very easily get together on the details. 

 There has been too much sectional feel- 

 ing and too little understanding of the 

 west by the east and of the east by the 

 west. Suppose we start from the fact 

 that the east is not a great soulless 

 banking corporation and that the west 

 is not a wilderness to be exploited and 

 work up to a conception of the United 

 States as one nation, with common in- 

 terests, a common faith, and a common 

 hope. Some of our Denver critics are 

 hopeless but we think that with our 

 friend from Pueblo we might climb the 

 heights. 



«? &' 5^ 



The Cost of War and Peace 



A STRIKING circular has been is- 

 sued by the New York Peace So- 

 ciety showing the cost of armed peace to 

 the people of the United States. In this 

 circular several striking comparisons 

 are made of the cost of the mainte- 



nance of our navy and the cost of many 

 of the conservation enterprises which 

 are proposed and upon the prosecution 

 of which our legislators halt on the 

 ground of extravagance. 



For example, attention is called to the 

 fact that the proposed White Moun- 

 tain forest reserve could be purchased 

 and planted for the cost of one battle- 

 ship. This is too moderate a statement. 

 The cost of one of the latest type of 

 battleships now being built by the 

 United States would very nearly finance 

 for the next five years the whole pro- 

 posed Appalachian forest enterprise. 

 The cost of six or seven more battle- 

 ships would pay for the great possible 

 expenditure to which some believe this 

 policy may lead and which so alarms 

 Mr. Cannon and other watchdogs of 

 the treasury. 



But this is not the end of the story. 

 In twenty-five years the Appalachian 

 forests would pay the nation a good net 

 return on the investment and they 

 would increase in value, under proper 

 forest management, from year to year, 

 making a permanent addition to the 

 national wealth. In twenty-five years 

 the battleship would be fit only for the 

 scrap heap, and during the period of its 

 life its up-keep would have been a heavy 

 expense to the nation. 



In making this comparison, we do 

 not need to enter into the question of 

 the necessity of maintaining an ade- 

 quate armament. The Peace Society 

 made the comparison for one purpose — 

 we make it to show that the nation that 

 spends its millions annually for build- 

 ing new battleships that soon become 

 obsolete and which will be useful only 

 in the case of a problematical war, 

 should not hesitate to make such in- 

 vestments as the proposed Appalachian 

 legislation calls for for the sake of 

 keeping its own house in order. The 

 liouse owner who allows his property 

 to go unpainted and without shingles 

 and to fall into general disrepair, is re- 

 garded as incapable and as a poor busi- 

 ness man. What shall be said of the 

 nation that allows its property to run 

 down from vear to vear?" This we are 



