Deep Gullies Washed in An Old Field, Long Cultivated in Corn, and Abandoned When Soil Became Thin. Scattered 

 Reproduction of Hardwoods and Pitch Pine, but Not Sufficient for Protection. Jackson County, North Carolina 



the states in which government action 

 is expected have passed the necessary 

 enabling acts, the matter being of such 

 importance as to overcome their state's- 

 rights scruples. This action on the part 

 of a number of southern states is suf- 

 ficient notification to their representa- 

 tives in Congress to support this meas- 

 ure, and that they expect constructive 

 action following their own. There is 

 a new progressive business spirit in the 

 South, he said, which is not bound by 

 party lines and which looks not alone 

 to the present revenues, but rather to 

 the welfare of the South for the later 

 generations as well as the present one. 

 No statesmanship which does not in- 

 clude this view is constructive, and the 

 South stands for constructive states- 

 manship. He particularly deplored- de- 

 struction of the forests by non-resident 

 owners who acquired the lands in the 



mountains for cheap prices and are now 

 robbing the South of its natural re- 

 sources. He urged the committee to 

 consider the question broadly and to 

 make a favorable report. 



In closing the presentation of the 

 case, Mr. Weeks made a plain and 

 forcible statement. He explained cer- 

 tain details of the bill in which it dif- 

 fers from that of last year. These are 

 chiefly in the removal of all references 

 to the existing national forests and the 

 income from them, making the appro- 

 priation direct from the Treasury, and 

 in the reduction of the life of the bill 

 from nine years to five years. Mr. 

 Weeks urged that Congress should cer- 

 tainly have confidence in the Geological 

 Survey upon the scientific judgment of 

 which decision as to the purchase of 

 these lands would ultimately rest, and 

 that, if the Survey could not be trusted. 



143 



