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HARDWOOD RECORD 



government should increase its activities in the way of reforestation, 

 and that it should not only retain and plant what land it has now, 

 but should enlarge its work to the extent of taking charge of plant- 

 ing in states where there now is little or no government land. The 

 reason assigned for taking up the work in new fields is that the gov- 

 ernment is better able to do it, can work on a broader basis, and do 

 it with greater economy. 



The question is far-reaching, and there are certain dangerous shoals 

 that must be avoided. Under , existing laws, and in the present condi- 

 tion of public opinion, it is doubtful if the government could buy 

 land for the purpose of growing timber. It can plant land which it 

 owns, and it should do so, and doubtless will as rapidly as circum- 

 stances allow; but the buying of land and planting timber in states 

 generally would meet opposition sufficient to defeat the purpose. 



Fortunately, many of the states are earnestly at work along these 

 lines. They are acquiring land and planting timber, and private 

 owners are encouraged to do the same. Unquestionably, the bulk 

 of timber planting in this country, except on government land, must 

 be done by private owners. The states can offer encouragement in 

 the way of fire protection, and in favorable tax laws. Many states 

 are doing this, or attempting to do it. Active work is being done in 

 many regions, under state laws and regulations. The actual planting 

 of timber has not yet been undertaken on a large scale in many 

 localities, but present interest in the subject will lead to practical 

 results. There is no lack of good intentions, but good intentions' 

 alone will not suffice. There must be works as well as faith. 



The Coming of the White Man 



THERE IS EOOM for various interpretations of the illustration 

 on the cover of Hardwood Record this issue. It is made from 

 a photograph of a monuiftent in a public park at Portland, Ore. The 

 Indians are looking intently into the distance, but the object at 

 which they are gazing is not shown in the illustration, and each 

 person is left to decide for himself what it is they see— whether a 

 hunter with his long rifle, of the type familiar to the readers of 

 Cooper's novels; whether a covered wagon like the historic prairie 

 schooners; whether the white saU of a boat approaching a shore or 

 tacking slowly up the current of an inland river. The Indians in 

 their native homes siPw the white man come in all these ways and in 

 many others. He came in peace, and he came in war; he came as a 

 trader, as an explorer, as a missionary carrying a cross and a bible, 

 and he came seeking protection from enemies, or refuge from star- 

 vation. 



There are no two accounts of how the Indian received the white 

 man who came in peace. He was received, as he asked to be received, 

 in peace, and the Indian shared with him the best he had and all he 

 had. Neither are there two accounts of the Indian's reception of 

 the white man who came in war. He was received in war. The red 

 man permitted none to surpass him in sacrifices for friends; nor 

 could any surpass him in the ferocities of war. He was a man of 

 extremes, and knew no middle course, and refused to learn any 

 middle course. 



The faces of the Indians have been given strong expressions by the 

 sculptor. One seems inclined to welcome the coming stranger, but 

 the other clearly intends to wait for further developments before he 

 expresses himself. He proposes neither to advance nor retreat. 



The illustration is supposed to be the Pacific coast Indian, looking 

 eastward, for the white man came to that region overland, not by 

 sea as along the Atlantic coast. Yet the physiognomy is typical. It 

 would fit a Mohawk as well as a Modoc. It is the face of the forest 

 man, the hunter, the fighter, the wild tribesman who once held domin- 

 ion of the two continents, from the Pacific to the Atlantic, and from 

 the Arctic shores to Terra del Fuego. He held it during untold ages, 

 but he developed no resources, he built no ships, no cities, no high- 

 ways; he opened no mines, erected no factories, and the coming of 

 the white man marked the end of the reign of savagery and the 

 beginning of civilization. 



It has been erroneously supposed by many that forest destruction 

 began with the white man 's coming. The beginning was long before, 

 and the Indian was the destroyer. There is reason to believe that 



forests once extended west to the edge of the semi-arid region, say 

 about to the one hundredth meridian. The destruction is laid to the 

 Indian who used fire to open the v/ilderness and make pasturage for 

 the buffalo. He had been burning for probably hundreds of years 

 when the white man appeared on the scene. Most of the open 

 prairies west of the Alleghany mountains, and particularly in the 

 states of the Middle West, are believed to be the work of Indian 

 fires. The burnings had reached the Atlantic coast when Europeans 

 arrived. Nathaniel J. Shaler, in his book on "Man in North Amer- 

 ica, ' ' expresses the opinion that if the white man 's coming had been 

 delayed five hundred years he would have landed upon a treeless con- 

 tinent. The Indian would have burned everything that would burn ; 

 grass, would have had possession wherever conditions would permit 

 its growth; the buffalo and other herbivorous animals would have 

 roamed the vast pastures in untold numbers; and the Indian would 

 have been living by the chase alone, and would have ceased his 

 attempts at primitive agriculture. 



The coming of the white man was, therefore, a momentous event 

 in the history of America. He checked the destruction of the finest 

 forests in the world, and saved their remnants for the use of civiliza- 

 tion. Without those forests, American civilization must have taken 

 an entirely different course, and who can say that it would not have 

 been hindered and in part defeated? 



In this larger view, what is the meaning of the monument — the 

 White Man's Coming? Is some glimmering dawn of the truth break- 

 ing on the Indian's proud soul and benighted intellect, and does the 

 white man 's appearance on the scene mean to the red man what the 

 handwriting on the cornice of the feast hall of Babylon meant to 

 Belshazzar — "Weighed, weighed, and found wanting"? 



Lumbermen's Fire Insurance 



T^HE EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT of the Lumbermen's Under- 

 •^ writing Alliance of Kansas City, which was recently issued, calls 

 attention to an important business arrangement formulated by the 

 lumbermen for their mutual benefit. This is one of the insurance 

 associations which in recent years have given lumbermen insurance 

 at cost. Success has shown the wisdom of the plan. Losses are borne 

 by all and profits and advantages are shared by all. It is as nearly 

 mutual insurance as has yet been put in successful jjractice. 



Among the good features of the plan is the keeping down of ex- 

 penses to the lowest point consistent with efficiency. No dead load 

 is carried. Nobody is paying for what he is not getting, and nobody 

 gets what he does not pay for. Another good feature is the careful 

 inspection of property to see that the proprietors incur no unnecessary 

 risks. They must keep their premises in order, and take all reason- 

 able precautions against danger of fire. By that means the losses 

 are reduced to a minimum, and the cost of insurance is kept at the 

 lowest point. 



It can be said of the plan as a whole that it has been a success. 

 It runs smoothly and attains the end desired. It has been worked out 

 gradually, improved as experience has shown better ways, has been 

 carefully brought up to its present state of efficiency, and as far as 

 can be foreseen, it is a permanent business institution in this country. 



The Government's Timber 



T^HE DEMAND which is made in different parts of the country 

 •^ that the government sell its timber cheap, or give it away, in 

 order that consumers may buy lumber cheap, is ill-advised. It means 

 simply that the government ought to break the market and demoralize 

 prices. Such a policy is ill-advised for two reasons: In the first 

 place, there is no just reason why the lumber markets should be 

 broken. The men engaged in the business are making no more than 

 legitimate profits, and some of them not that. There are enough 

 sawmills in the country to cut much more lumber than is being cut, 

 and it stands to reason, if profits were large, those mills would be 

 running at full capacity. That fact alone is sufficient answer to the 

 charge that lumber is being sold for more than it is worth. In the 

 second place, if the government should be so unbusiness-like as to 

 attempt to upset the market by selling its timber for little, or giving 

 it away, it is doubtful if it could accomplish that purpose. 



