1908 



EDITORIAL 



foot ; so much so that they are not get- 

 ting the cost of the white paper for 

 many editions that are sent out." 



Another straw is found in the fol- 

 lowing bit of information furnished 

 directly to this office: 



A New England paper, owned by 

 three men, has been paying an annual 

 dividend of from fifteen thousand to 

 twenty thousand dollars. Print paper 

 has been costing this firm $1.85 per 

 hundred pounds. Within recent 

 months the price of paper began to 

 rise. When the increase began to look 

 serious the leading owner sought out 

 a friend in the paper company and ex- 

 postulated. He was told that, _ for 

 friendship's sake, he would be given 

 some inside information in advance, 

 namely, that the price would soon go 

 still higher and that he would do well 

 to make a one-year contract at the ex- 

 isting price, namely, $2.50. This he 

 did, and the price afterward ascended 

 to $3 and $3.25, settling later at $3. 



.The increase, however, from $1.85 

 to $2.50 which alone, "for friendship's 

 sake," this firm was required to en- 

 dure, cut the annual dividend of 

 its paper fifteen thousand dollars. 

 Where the paper would have been, but 

 for its "inside information," may be 

 inferred. 



That newspaper men should be in- 

 terested in the removal of the duty on 

 wood-pulp is easily understood. The 

 .suggestion, however, that Canadians 

 may put an export duty on spruce is 

 by no means reassuring. 



But, duty or no duty, it must never 

 be forgotten that Canadian wood sup- 

 plies, like American wood supplies, 

 are far from inexhaustible. The com- 

 plete levelling of the tarifif wall be- 

 tween Canada and the United States, 

 while it would undoubtedly relieve, in 

 a measure, the wood situation on this 

 side the line, could relieve it but tem- 

 porarily. Under present policies of 

 timber slaughter, the Canadian supply 

 would but disappear the more rapidly, 

 and the evil day, for a brief space de- 

 ferred, would again dawn. Whatever 

 may or may not be done with the tar- 



iff, one thing is certain : the United 

 States must adopt, and that speedily, 

 a rational policy for the conservation 

 and use of her timber supplies. 



Th R" ht ^^ ^^^ ^^^ following in 

 of Others ^ '^^^ Baltimore World. 

 It is not only New Eng- 

 landers who can appreciate the pity of 

 ruining the beautiful White Moun- 

 tains : 



"The destruction of forests in the 

 White Mountains goes on apace. One 

 of the last acts of forest vandalism is 

 the cutting of the woods on one of the 

 most delightful drives near North 

 Conway, N. H. It is not isolated, but 

 typical of many acts of scenic spolia- 

 tion. In this instance not merely was 

 the wood cut off, but the brush was 

 thrown into the stream, so that it was 

 almost impossible to approach it, and 

 when one struggled through the rub- 

 bish he found a brook wholly stripped 

 of its beauty. In many other parts of 

 the mountains the forests that have 

 been the glory of the great ranges are 

 rapidly disappearing. 



"There does not seem to be the 

 slightest evidence that the forest van- 

 dals intend to cut the lumber again, 

 when a new growth is ready for the 

 ax. Everything is swept clean. A man 

 has a right to do what he will with his 

 own, so long as he does not infringe 

 on the rights of others, and conse- 

 quently scenic attractions are in con- 

 stant danger. But the rapid devasta- 

 tion of our mountains, which is sheer 

 vandalism, due to ignorance of for- 

 estry, is a menace to the surrounding 

 property. 



"The streams are diminishing, the 

 spring freshets are more disastrous, 

 the accumulation of inflammable brush 

 makes fires more frequent. The time 

 must come when the Government will 

 take over as National or State parks 

 such points of attraction as the White: 

 Mountains, which even from a pecuni- 

 ary point of view are worth incom- 

 parably more to the people of New 

 Hampshire as objects of beauty. than 

 they possibly can be to any lum- 



