MILLIONS FOR TRIBUTE, BUT NOT 

 ONE CENT FOR DEFENSE 



BY 



F. M. Eaton, Richwood, West Virginia 



COMEWHERE among the dead bills 

 *^ presented to the last Congress of 

 the United States lies a bill — the 

 White Mountain-Appalachian Bill. 



Does the ordinary reader and vo- 

 ter of this country know that it has 

 been there, and is there? Or, if he 

 knows it, does he know what it is for? 



I doubt that very many can say yes 

 to either question. 



Down here in the West Virginia 

 mountains, where the water goes in a 



terrible hurry on its way to the At- 

 lantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, 

 if one knows the purpose of the bill, 

 one gets an idea of its value. 



Down these mountain sides, where 

 the angle of 45 degrees is a common 

 occurrence, and "up and down" pret- 

 ty common, the rain water slides as 

 though it were an express train mak- 

 ing up lost time. In the original for- 

 est it has its beaten track of one large 

 or small ravine bottom, full of large 



Badly washed mcuntain valley lands, Bakersville, N. C. — The Icwer slopes bordering 



this valley are largely cleared 



