1908 



EDITORIAL 



357 



gation is needed, when the Congres- 

 sional ship has already been loaded to 

 the water's edge with information on 

 •every conceivable pertinent aspect of 

 the case. Meanwhile, it permits for- 

 est slaughter, soil erosion, and stream 

 impairment to proceed. 



It is understood that the Senate will 

 ignore this bill. The Southern News- 

 paper Publishers' Association, in con- 

 vention at Charlotte, N. C, has re- 

 cently gone on record, by unanimous 

 vote, for the proposed Appalachian- 

 White Mountain National Forests. 

 Hon. John H. Small, representative 

 from the First district in North Caro- 

 lina, in an address before the Ameri- 

 can Cotton Manufacturers' Associa- 

 tion at Richmond, Virginia, on May 

 20, said : 



The only agency which, can properly 

 preserve these mountain forests is that 

 of the United States. It is utterly im- 

 practicable for any single state, and 

 equally so for any confederation of states. 

 Any suggestion to the contrary comes 

 from an enemy and not a friend of this 

 great National resource. 



Speaking of "powerful obstacles 

 which block the way," he said : 



There are no legislative obstacles so 

 great which the American people in their 

 might cannot remove. This can be done 

 by continuing the propaganda of edu- 

 cation so insistently waged by the Amer- 

 ican Forestry Association, and by your 

 Association, as an active ally. 



The feeling of the Cotton Manufac- 

 turers is shown by the following reso- 

 lution, passed unanimously on the 

 same day : 



We, the American Cotton Manufactur- 

 ers' Association, m convention assembled, 

 hereby urge upon the Congress of the Uni- 

 ted States the passage, at this session, of 

 bill H. R. 21357, or a similar bill, providing 

 for the purchase, in aid of navigation, of 

 forest lands in the Southern Appalachian 

 and White Mountain regions, and also for 

 co-operation between private owners and 

 the Federal Gcvernment with a view of 

 preserving the forests on privately owned 

 land for the regulation of stream-flow in 

 aid of navigation. 



Congress is expected to adjourn in 

 the week ending May 30th. If so, 



and nothing further is accomplished 

 this session, there will still have been 

 gained the passage of an excellent bill 

 by the Senate, and the development 

 of public sentiment which should re- 

 sult in the rebuke at the polls, if not 

 the actual retirement, of congressmen 

 who have dallied with or obstructed a 

 measure so generally recognized as in- 

 dispensable to national well-being. 



&' >g i^ 



Some Western Criticisms. 



The following editorial paragraph 

 is quoted from the May 2 issue of 

 Field and Farm, published at Den- 

 ver: 



"It listens big to read how a mil- 

 lionaire Senator has bought 12,000 

 acres of coal land in Colorado; but 

 is it a good thing for the state, or a 

 solace to posterity ? The time is com- 

 ing when the country will be owned, 

 soul and body, by the millionaires.'* 



Has it ever occurred to the editor 

 of Field and Farm that in voicing 

 sentiments such as this, and in con- 

 tinuing also to protest against the 

 work of the Government in creating 

 National Forests and mineral reserves 

 (as proposed not long ago by Presi- 

 dent Roosevelt) a clash of argument 

 occurs that speaks but poorly for the 

 editorial bump of logic? 



The proposition to extend greatly 

 the work of the Government in es- 

 tablishing National Forests is, to 

 many in the West, as to the proverb- 

 ial red flag to the bull. So, too, is 

 the proposition that the several states 

 establish within their borders state 

 forest and mineral reserves, though 

 the latter proposition does not arouse 

 such an intense degree of antagonism 

 as does the former. Probably this is 

 because propositions looking toward 

 the establishment of state forests have 

 been neither frequent nor strongly ad- 

 vocated ; but this is by the way. 



Now, the question resolves itself to 

 this: A large part of the Western 

 press, and a great majority of the peo- 

 ple of the West, are violently opposed 

 to the acquisition by individuals or 



