52 FOEEST LANDS FOR THE PROTECTION OF WATERSHEDS. 



a great many other cases of water powers and in the cases of water 

 powers that are being developed for general use, aggregating, per- 

 haps, all told, 200,000 horsepower of water power powers that are 

 doing the work of at least 2,000,000 people, and that means to us, on 

 account of this changing condition which I observed in a practical 

 way, that there is imminent peril to a large vested interest and to the 

 vocations of a great many people. 



Now, you appropriate $100,000,000 a year to support an army to 

 defend the people of this country against imminent peril ; you support 

 a navy, at a cost of $125,000,000. We believe that $5,000,000 is an 

 exceedingly modest sum to ask for to protect the large vested interests 

 throughout the eastern part of the United States agains't an immi- 

 nent peril, which is just as serious as invasion would be. Suppose 

 Boston was threatened with an invasion that was going to do a great 

 injury, you would appropriate $50,000,000 inside of two days to re- 

 lieve Boston of that danger. We are undoubtedly in the presence 

 of an imminent danger as serious as if Boston was going to be at- 

 tacked from the sea or by land. We think, also, that it is a practical 

 question, that you can argue here indefinitely and never reach any 

 conclusions about a great many phases of the subject that are 

 naturally going to be worked out by scientific people afterwards, and 

 not by people in Congress ; whether the water flows from the streams 

 into one stream or another will be a subject that will have to be 

 evolved from experience, and if you were to appropriate enough 

 money to make a beginning, then you would have some experience, 

 and some experts who could better tell you how to proceed next. 

 That picture at your window represents a view of forest and stream. 

 That was one of the conditions attracting people from other countries 

 to this, our forefathers. President Koosevelt sent some pictures 

 yesterday to Congress that show the condition a country may be 

 brought to by neglect. You have all heard, of course, that" when the 

 hills of Lebanon were forested with cedars, Palestine supported 

 ten millions of people in opulence. We know that to-day Palestine 

 supports less than 500,000 people in poverty. There was a time when 

 in Jerusalem there was a building finer than this one, they say, and 

 yet what is that building to-day, and its condition was largely brought 

 about by the physical degeneration of the country. We ask you to 

 make an appropriation and make a start now. We ask it in absolute 

 good faith and in the belief that there is an imminent peril, and that 

 you should as promptly do this as you would if there was an invasion 

 of the country; and when you make a start you will not only be con- 

 vinced of the importance of keeping it up, but you will get the skill 

 and knowledge of the facts to base the project on that ultimately it 

 will not cost the Government anything, because the rivers will bring 

 in enough to pay for the thing. 



Mr. WEEKS. How far back did you go to get that high-water 

 mark you speak of? 



Mr. TOMPKINS. I went back to the time when people 80 years old 

 had gotten it, as far back as their memories would carry. We got 

 the best average result through the knowledge of the oldest inhabit- 

 ants, and I think we got it pretty nearly right, because we have 

 observed that the high-water mark has been increasing since. We 

 measured the low- water flow before we bought the property, and we 



