644 



CONSERVATION 



We will get it, too, for the South i 

 realizes more than ever that it must have 

 the Appalachians and will range itself 

 squarely behind the work we have been 

 doing for its establishment. 



The brief review of the project fol- 

 lows: 



A BRIEF STATEMENT CONCERNING THE PRO- 

 POSED APPALACHIAN-WHITE MOUNTAIN FOR- 

 EST RESERVE 



This project contemplates the purchase by 

 the National Government of forest areas in 

 the Southern Appalachian and White Moun- 

 tain regions, and their creation into a Na- 

 tional Forest under the care and direction 

 of the "Forest Service," on identical lines 

 of management and use as are employed in 

 the existing National Forests in the West, 

 where to-day the Nation has some 168,000,000 

 acres, to be kept in forest covering perpetu- 

 ally under such wise restrictions as to use 

 as insure their utmost value to the people 

 now and in the future. 



While the project has been suggested for 

 a period of twenty years and aggressive agi- 

 tation has been made for eight or ten years, 

 since the need of Government action has 

 been apparent, it has been along somewhat 

 indefinite lines until the last session of 

 Congress. 



At this session, following the exhaustive 

 survey and report of the Secretary of Agri- 

 culture there were introduced in the House 

 two bills and in the Senate two bills on 

 identical lines in both branches, all provid- 

 ing for the purchase of 5,000,000 acres in 

 the Southern Appalachians extending from 

 Alabama to Pennsylvania, and 660,000 

 acres in the White Mountains in New Eng- 

 land, and proposed an appropriation of 

 $5,000,000 therefor. 



Without going into much detail, no action 

 was taken by the House, the bills dying in 

 the Committee on Agriculture, not being re- 

 ported out. 



In the Senate one of the bills passed, near 

 the close of the session, and being sent to 

 the House, met the same fate as the House 

 bills: viz., "Not reported out of Committee." 

 The result was no action, though the real 

 earnestness, the real urgency of it, the vital 

 concern of the whole Nation in it, were never 

 better or more convincingly shown. See 

 House Document, "Hearing on the Appa- 

 lachian Bill." 



The Senate Bill (No. 4825) being still be- 

 fore the House Committee on Agriculture 

 for their action, must be taken up and dis- 

 posed of at the coming session of Congress, 

 and if the committee can be induced to report 

 it so that the House can consider and debate 

 it, it stands an excellent chance for enact- 

 ment into law, for a careful poll of the pres- 

 ent House seems to show that the project, 

 which has the cordial endorsement of the 

 whole Nation, will win by a large majority 



f a vote can be had on it — and that the old 

 device of keeping it buried in committee may 

 not at this session avail to prevent action. 



We are not so much concerned with the 

 success of any special measure. We want 

 and must have in some definite form an ade- 

 quate start toward a National Forest in both 

 sections, so that we plan to support heartily 

 any measure or measures which will best 

 bring this about, as a start toward a definite, 

 systematic and clearly defined forest policy 

 on the part of the Government, the carrying 

 out of which would mean the extension of 

 the National Forests to all sections where they 

 may be "constitutionally" established and 

 "insure national sanity" as regards their 

 proper conservation to the utmost extent pos- 

 sible. 



A large impetus has been given to the 

 cause of forest perpetuation along these 

 broad lines by the conservation movement, 

 which had its inspiration in the Governors' 

 Conference in May last. The National Con- 

 servation Commission appointed by the 

 President as the result of that conference 

 has been engaged for months in a study of 

 the National resources and of all the ques- 

 tions involved in their wise utilization. Its 

 early report must be an authoritative utter- 

 ance. If this report fixes the forest question 

 as of first importance because of their rapid 

 destruction and their early complete exhaus- 

 tion, it will arouse a demand for their preser- 

 vation that Congress must heed — and this de- 

 mand must name the Appalachian-White 

 Mountain region, first. Whether the Con- 

 servation Commission does this or not, condi- 

 tions are such as demand that there be no let 

 up in the earnest and hard work of the un- 

 selfish men and women of the Nation who 

 are urging National action in this important 

 matter, and legislation bearing on it should 

 continue to receive loyal and earnest support. 

 The Agricultural Committee of the House 

 proposes to grant a public hearing on the 

 Senate bill on December 9, in Washington. 

 There will be in session in Washington on 

 December 7 and 8, the Southern Commercial 

 Congress, representing the commercial voice 

 of the entire South. There will be in ses- 

 sion there on the 8th the Governors and their 

 advisors, in conference with the President 

 and the National Conservation Commission. 

 There will be in session there on the 9th, 

 loth, and nth, the great National Rivers and 

 Harbor Congress — and every man in attend- 

 ance upon them, who is alive to the conserva- 

 tion idea, should be in attendance on this 

 hearing and make his influence felt before 

 the committee. 



Furthermore, every civic league, every 

 chamber of commerce or similar body, every 

 woman's club in every Southern city, should, 

 prior to December 9, pass ringing resolutions 

 demanding this legislation and see that the 

 Appalachian National Forest Association in 

 Washington gets them in time to use them at 

 the hearing on December 9. 

 Do you plan to help? 



