1908 



EDITORIAL 



253 



through the sales of irrigated land. 

 Such being the case, why should not 

 this revolving fund be increased to any- 

 necessary amount, thus enabling the 

 Government to irrigate not only a few 

 great areas but a multitude of small 

 ones? No question is raised over the 

 protection accorded the home owner 

 on lands irrigated by the Government. 

 Why have we not here then a complete 

 solution of the home owner's problem ? 

 The editorial in question praises the 

 National Forest principle but con- 

 demns its operation. The administra- 

 tion, it claims, is defective; red tape 

 abounds; subordinates are arbitrary, 

 etc. The author, however, cannot ex- 

 pect blanket charges to be met. Let 

 him specify, furnishing names, dates, 

 and places. 



If the National Forests are to be 

 successfully administered, the local 

 viewpoint must, of course, be under- 

 stood. The same principle applies to 

 the successful national administration 

 of the public range. Why may not 

 provision be made for the establish- 

 ment of some State advisory board or 

 commission, with which the respon- 

 sible forest officers in each state might 

 keep in touch? 



The editorial voices the familiar 

 view that public lands should, with 

 rare exceptions, be converted as 

 promptly as may be in private pro- 

 perty. The time has come when the 

 Nation should think twice before ac- 

 cepting this dictum. The fact that it 

 has acted upon it in the past is no 

 proof that it should continue to act 

 upon it. The pell-mell haste with 

 which we have rushed to convert our 

 public domain into railway empires, 

 and otherwise to enrich vast corpora- 

 tions at the expense both of the public 

 as such and of the man to whom 

 home-owning has now become impos- 

 sible, should warn us against future 

 progress in this direction. It is in- 

 structive to contrast the ease with 

 which public lands have been made 

 private with the enormous difficulty, 

 now illustrated by the Appalachian 

 campaign, incurred in the endeavor 

 to convert private lands into public. 



The first process is like descending a 

 toboggan slide ; the second is like 

 climbing back to the top of the hill 

 and dragging the sled. The era of un- 

 restricted private ownership has, let 

 us hope, reached its culmination and 

 begun its decline. Special pleas may 

 still be made for the return of the 

 "good old times" ; but if the people are 

 wise, these pleas will be made in vain. 



^ . Korea, the Hermit 



Forests ci t^- 1 • 1 • 



Korea to be Kmgdom, is wakmg up 



Protected to the necessity of pro- 

 tecting its remaining 

 forests and replanting denuded tracts 

 on important watersheds. Japan is 

 furnishing the inspiration and part of 

 the money which will produce the 

 change from the old order of things 

 to the new. A school for training 

 Korean foresters has already been put 

 in operation. , 



The two governments drew up a 

 co-operative agreement last spring and 

 outlined a plan for the wise use of the 

 forests in the Yalu and Tumen val- 

 leys, and as a result a national forest 

 policy for Korea has been developed. 

 The new Korean forest laws are sim- 

 iliar to those of Japan, according to 

 United States Consul-General Thomas 

 Sammons, of Seoul. 



Although Korean forests have been 

 exploited and neglected, and the coun- 

 try has suffered from drought, floods, 

 and erosion, the denudation is less 

 serious than in neighboring provinces 

 of China. One of the first measures 

 to be taken up will be the preservation 

 of such wooded tracts as yet remain. 

 In order to do this, the government has 

 taken all forests under its care, 

 whether they are publicly or private- 

 ly owned. The owners will not be de- 

 prived of their property without com- 

 pensation, but the Government will 

 regulate the cutting of timber, and in 

 certain cases may prohibit all cutting 

 on tracts which ought to remain tim- 

 bered, "to prevent floods, droughts, 

 landslides, and to preserve unimpaired 

 the scenic attractiveness of places of 

 public resort." All owneis of timber- 

 land and all leaseholders are required 



