Eroded Slopes, Western North Carolina 



alternative thus far suggested, would 

 destroy railways, highways, and other 

 existing improvements ; would prevent 

 the use of valleys, converting them into 

 lakes and reservoirs, and in many cases 

 such artificial regulation of the streams 

 would endanger life and property, be- 

 sides requiring enormous sums both to 

 construct and maintain ; and that in all 

 probability such artificial means would 

 come to nothing if the forests were al- 

 lowed to be devastated and the moun- 

 tains converted into waste land such as 

 are already seen in parts of the Ap- 

 palachians, both North and South. The 

 most important opinion advanced by 

 Professor Roth was that the forests 

 are the only means of holding soil and 

 regulating stream-flow which can at 

 once be established and are already es- 

 tablished through probably more than 

 eighty per cent of all these lands, only 

 requiring attention by proper protec- 

 tion and use. In contradiction of the 

 142 



claim that all these forest improvements 

 and protection would require unusual 

 expenditures running into the hun- 

 dreds of millions of dollars, Professor 

 Roth clearly showed that these lands, 

 when purchased, could be generally 

 protected and forests maintained upon 

 them for all time, and at the same time 

 the forests would become in a few years 

 not only self-supporting, but paying 

 for themselves, so that the expenditure 

 upon the part of the people would be- 

 come actually an investment. Professor 

 Roth emphasized the fact that he was 

 willing to stake his reputation and 

 stand by the committee if they voted 

 favorably upon this bill, and he be- 

 lieved that the people at large would 

 do the same thing. 



Mr. G. Grosvenor Dawe spoke for 

 the Southern Commercial Congress, of 

 which he is the managing director. He 

 said that the business element of the 

 South expects action ; that seven of 



