FOEEST LANDS FOB THE PROTECTION OF WATEESHEDS. 11 



STATEMENT OF ME. JOHN G. HUGE, VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE 

 SOUTHERN COMMERCIAL CONGRESS. 



Mr. RUGE. It is my pleasure and privilege and honor, as vice-presi- 

 dent of the Southern Commercial Congress, to present to you a reso- 

 lution adopted yesterday, which reads as follows : 



The Southern Commercial Congress in convention assembled, with accredited 

 representatives of 64 commercial organizations from the 15 States participating 

 therein, does resolve as follows : 



Deeming the establishment of the proposed Appalachian White Mountain 

 National Forest of paramount importance to the nation, and realizing the ur- 

 gent necessity of immediate congressional action thereon, we commend the 

 Senate in passing the bill ; we deplore the delay of the House of Representatives 

 and its Agricultural Committee in withholding favorable action upon it; and 

 we unite, as earnest and patriotic believers in the utmost conservation of our 

 national resources, of which the forest is certainly one of the most important, in 

 this expression of dissatisfaction in any further delay. 



And we further instruct the chairman of this congress to appoint a committee 

 of this body to attend the hearing before the Agricultural Committee on Wednes- 

 day, December 9, and to express in no uncertain terms our attitude in this 

 matter. 



Governor GUILD. I have asked pur representatives here to-day to 

 confine their remarks to the five-minute limit, and with your consent, 

 sir, shall notify them when their time has expired. 



The CHAIRMAN. That will be satisfactory to the committee, with 

 the understanding that, in fairness to the gentlemen appearing, if 

 the committee protracts their time with questions of its own the limit 

 will not be enforced. 



Governor GUILD. We appreciate your kindly courtesy, sir, and 

 merely desire to reciprocate. 



As the first speaker, especially as he is obliged to attend duties in 

 the Senate chamber shortly, I shall call upon the Chaplain of the 

 Senate, the Rev. Edward Everett Hale. 



STATEMENT OF DR. EDWARD EVERETT HALE, CHAPLAIN OF 

 THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 



Doctor HALE. The reason why Governor Guild calls upon me is 

 that I am the oldest person hereabouts who has really worked in the 

 New Hampshire forests. I had the good fortune, when I was 19 

 years old, as a boy, to serve on the Geological Survey in the State 

 of New Hampshire. I have slept under these very pine trees which 

 have long ago been cast down, and within two years I went over the 

 absolute ground, where there was not a stick as big as that stick I have 

 to lean on now. It makes a man cry, when he has slept under a pine 

 tree 10 feet in diameter. I have talked with men who saw George the 

 Third's " broad arrow " on trees, which the King would never per- 

 mit to be cut down and now to see the places where they grew grow- 

 ing up in blackberry bushes. I respect entirely what the chairman 

 has said as to the nature of the testimony desired by the committee, 

 and I will try to confine myself within that limit. 



When I was here a year ago the question had not been raised, even 

 as an academic question, as to the right of this committee to do any- 

 thing about it. The chairman informs us that it has been raised 

 since. I went from this room then and addressed a note to the Navy 



