FOREST LANDS FOE THE PROTECTION OF WATERSHEDS. 43 



Governor GUILD. That is true. 



Mr. CURRIER. This committee does not realize how much in earnest 

 we are, and you do not realize, either, the growing feeling in the East 

 that the East is not getting a fair show. [Applause.] Mr. Pinchot 

 says that the forest reserves west of the Mississippi Eiver are worth 

 1,500 million dollars, and we are asking an appropriation for all this 

 country east of the Mississippi of one-third of 1 per cent, and we 

 think we ought to have it. [Applause.] 



Governor GUILD. Mr. Chairman, I regret extremely that my duties 

 in Massachusetts make it imperative for me to leave at this time. 

 The meeting of the executive council has been postponed for twenty- 

 four hours for the express purpose of letting the chief executive of 

 Massachusetts come down here and express the intense feeling of the 

 people of that Commonwealth in favor of this bill and this proposi- 

 tion of forest protection for the whole Appalachian region, from the 

 most northern to the most southern States, and in parting may I 

 thank you, sir, and members of the committee, for the great courtesy 

 which has been accorded me and the kindness and patience with 

 which you have listened to the arguments. I shall take great pleas- 

 ure in presenting as my successor, Mr. Harvey, of Philadelphia, who 

 will introduce the speakers. Congressman Currier has not exagger- 

 ated one moment the intense feeling which prevails in New England 

 in regard to this matter. There are cities in New England which 

 can not run their electric-light plants, and they are now in darkness 

 on account of the drought. There are rivers' in Massachusetts, the 

 banks of which have, for the first time, become coated with sewage 

 owing to the lack of the water flow. That, we are informed by the 

 experts in arboriculture, is due to the denudation of the regions at 

 the headwaters of the great rivers of New England, and I think Mr. 

 Ayers will bear me out that whether an exaggerated statement has 

 or has not been made in regard to the southern Appalachians, the 

 condition has not been exaggerated in regard to the White Mountain 

 region, for if the thing continues at the headwaters of the New Eng- 

 land rivers at the present rate, the upper slopes there, which we need, 

 wil be denuded of trees in five years, and therefore we pray you for 

 immediate action and for the strong arm of the National Government 

 in behalf of the Atlantic slopes. I thank you very much. [Ap- 

 plause.] 



The CHAIRMAN. Governor Guild, the committee has felt honored, 

 I am sure, by your presence here to-day, and regrets very much that 

 you can not remain throughout the entire hearing. 



We will now listen to Mr. Harvey. 



STATEMENT OF ME. WILLIAM S. HARVEY, OF PHILADELPHIA. 



Mr. HARVEY. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, in succeeding our 

 splendid chairman, which honor I appreciate, and also appreciate 

 how incompetent I am to properly succeed him, I will only say on 

 behalf of the many persons here that I was sent here to represent the 

 National Board of Trade, being chairman of the committee on for- 

 estry and irrigation; that the National Board of Trade, which repre- 

 sents about 72 boards of trade and chambers of commerce throughout 

 the entire United States, have advocated forestry measures for more 

 than fifteen years. They were among the first advocates of the 



