32 FOREST LANDS FOR THE PROTECTION OF WATERSHEDS. 



Mr. AYERS. If the governor will permit me, as far as the White 

 Mountains are concerned and I am familiar with the White Moun- 

 tains there are various kinds of land which would necessarily be 

 giving a return, even in a small tract of 25,000 acres. Being the for- 

 ester for Dartmouth College and having under my personal charge 

 a tract of 26,000 acres, I know that even though that has been cut 

 over, we are able to get an annual revenue of from ten to fifteen 

 thousand dollars from that particular cut-over forest. That is ex- 

 actly what we want to do in other places of the White Mountains. If 

 you take a tract as large as 25,000 acres already, there is certain to be 

 mature timber, and a certain part of that revenue will go to the 

 county. 



The CHAIRMAN. Can you give us an idea of the price that land 

 containing that timber could be bought for? 



Mr. AYRES. Land in the White Mountains can be had, according 

 to the degree to which it is cut over, some more and some less, from 

 $1 to $20 per acre. 



Governor GUILD. Before going further with the hearing, of course 

 it is thoroughly understood that the committee is seeking for infor- 

 mation, and therefore, of course, the examination of our expert wit- 

 nesses has become a necessity. We recognize that, but unfortunately 

 it is a fact that thereby a number of prominent representatives of the 

 various States may be prevented from testifying at all, and I should 

 like to state, as a part of the record, with your permission, that we 

 expected to have introduced this morning, as sympathizing with and 

 behind this movement and asking for its adoption, Governor Hoke 

 Smith, of Georgia; Governor Martin F. Ansel, of South Carolina; 

 Governor Kollin S. Woodruff, of Connecticut; Governor N. C. 

 Blanchard, of Louisiana ; Governor John A. Johnson, of Minnesota, 

 and President George E. Barstow, of the National Irrigation Con- 

 gress. These gentlemen were all ready to speak this morning. 

 Whether it will be possible for them to come here this afternoon I do 

 not know, but I am sure you will not object to having the list of their 

 names. , 



The CHAIRMAN. The committee will take official notice that those 

 gentlemen would have favored this measure if they could have ap- 

 peared before us. 



Governor GUILD. Governor Pardee, of California, is here, and I 

 shall call upon him next for a few words. 



STATEMENT OF HON. GEORGE C. PARDEE, EX-GOVERNOR OF 

 CALIFORNIA. 



Governor PARDEE. Understand, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of 

 the committee, that my name will be entered in this distinguished 

 list, not because it is distinguished, but because I am here. I wish 

 to add this to what has already been said: I know of no way by 

 which government supervision, be it state or national, of privately 

 owned lands can be effectively carried out along the lines for which 

 this bill provides in all cases. If the forests be taken when they are 

 in their prime and before they have been cut and burned over and 

 the police power of the States first, and then, if necessary, of the 

 nation thereafter, be invoked to preserve them, a supervision without 

 public ownership might, and probably would, be sufficient, but there 

 are many places in my own State, and I apprehend the same thing 

 applies to the Appalachian and also to the White Mountain regions, 



