RESTORATION AND CONSERVATION OF FORESTS 



487 



full production and be as remunerative 

 as the German forests noted. By doing 

 this, it would have come into possession 

 of a large number of lakes with which 

 that elevated region abounds. These 

 could have been converted into storage 

 reservoirs for the numerous clear, pure 

 streams that flow into them, by con- 

 structing dams at their outlets. Then, 

 if at the time of purchase, it had con- 

 ducted that pure water supply by grav- 

 ity to the distributing system in its 

 borders — the elevation is ample — it 

 would to-day be far better oflf finan- 

 cially, and thousands of lives would 

 have been saved. The city's depend- 

 ence now is upon a filtering system both 

 costly in maintenance and uncertain in 

 results, and, withal, insufficient. The 

 returns from the forests would more 

 than defray the expense of maintenance 

 to the city limits. 



Such an undertaking would have 

 been no more gigantic and expensive 

 for Philadelphia than is the one New 

 York city is now carrying on to se- 

 cure a new source of water supply from 

 the Catskill Mountains, where no rev- 

 enue can come to the city from the 

 forests ; nor as much so as that of Los 

 Angeles, where water is being obtained 

 in the Rocky Mountains 300 miles away. 

 Besides, Philadelphia could have fur- 

 nished water to towns and cities along 

 the route. When our people come to 

 understand and appreciate how impor- 

 tant forests are in maintaining an 

 equable flow of springs and streams,- 

 they will see that municipalities, by an 

 investment in forests on the water- 

 sheds of streams which supply them, 

 can secure a pure and continuous sup- 

 ply, and, beyond that, reap a financial 

 profit from the sale of forest products. 



Dismissing national and state gov- 

 ernmental action, and that of all kinds 

 of corporations, we come, at last, to 

 the land owner, who must do what the 

 others will not, and who must do it 

 in his individual capacity ; and here is a 

 problem so complicated and so large 

 that it can be discussed only in a gen- 

 eral way at this time. Conditions here 

 are wholly unlike those in most coun- 

 tries. With us, large land holdings by 



individuals are frowned upon as inim- 

 ical to public interests, and entail is not 

 tolerated. Our land owners comprise 

 a vast multitude. They hold in fee, and 

 their domains are mainly small, and 

 nearly all of them should, for their own 

 protection, engage in restoration and 

 conservation of the forests of the coun- 

 try. This is especially true of farmers, 

 who must, of necessity, possess what 

 are known as woodlots, where shall be 

 grown their fuel and such other timber 

 as may be required about the farm. In 

 a short time such work will become im- 

 perative, and the farmer should no 

 longer delay entering upon it. Two- 

 thirds of the people in the United States 

 use wood for fuel, and more will as 

 soon as natural gas and coal become 

 less plentiful. Unfortunately, the great 

 importance of this feature is not yet 

 realized, and every eflfort should be 

 made to awaken the farmer to a con- 

 ception of it. There is no more reason 

 why the farmer should purchase his 

 fuel than that he should buy his food. 

 He must become an important factor 

 in restoration. 



Besides the farmer, there are others 

 who may own large areas, and these 

 can in no other way leave a more benefi- 

 cent legacy to their children than in a 

 well-forested domain. It will be better 

 than life insurance, and individuals 

 whose large wealth gives them an op- 

 portunity to bestow benefits upon pos- 

 terity can do so in no better form, nor 

 one which will so benefit mankind at 

 large and bless those whose rightful in- 

 heritance we are rapidly destroying. 

 From whatever standpoint we may look 

 at it. we will see that individual action 

 must largely control, and that it will not 

 prevail until the people are educated 

 to an appreciation of its importance. 



But, after all this insistence that cor- 

 porations, municipalities, and individ- 

 uals shall engage in the good work, I 

 am forced to, and sorrowfully do, ad- 

 mit and declare that under the present 

 tax laws of our own and most other 

 states neither corporations, municipali- 

 ties, nor individuals can now afford to 

 engage in reforestation, for if they do 

 their trees will be practically confiscated 



