I84 AMERICAN FORESTRY 



^ated. An annual appropriation, not The Report of IV ,.*, c 



exceeding $25,000, is made for the ex- ^TT- . , ' '-- 



f * ,j ; HE translation from the Revue des 



penses of the commi j ^ F ^ . . 



g 



'These are the provisions of the act published elsewhere in these pages, 



in outline It will be noticed that it of peculiar interest at this time be- 



nowhere mentions any specific localities cause it reviews the work and conclu- 



in which such forests are to be ac- sions of some of the French and Ger- 



quired. It is, therefore, an act of gen- man investigators who were cited mis- 



eral, national application and its spe- takenly, we believe, to support some 



cial 'application to the two Appalachian of the contentions of Mr. Willis L. 



areas is simply due to the fact that they Moore, the Chief of the Weather Bu- 



are known to be the most important reau, in his recent report on the influ- 



forest regions in the East for the pur- ence of forests on climate and on floods. 



poses of this act. It is believed by It appears from this French review of 



many of the best friends of the South- the discussions of the Milan confer- 



ern Appalachian and White Mountains ence> as we u as f rom t j ie testimony of 



that a broad, national measure of this p ro f e ssor Swain at the hearing before 



kind is better than one that is specific, the Committee on Agriculture on the 



and this is certainly true as far as gen- 2 ^ h of Fe bruary, that the judgment of 



eral principles of legislation are con- the foreign investigators is practically 



cerned. As originally introduced in the unanimous in oppos i t i on to the posi _ 



Sixtieth Congress and as it passed the don takgn b Mn MoQre and sQme of 



House in that Congress, the Week thg engineers. Next month we 



Bill had a duration of nine years in- ^ / b]ish s in AMERICAN FORESTRY 



stead of five We believe that it was osium b SQme f Qur bgst ^ 



better m that form and that a period 



,. , . , Q J O J ican authorities dealing with Mr. 



of time as long as nine years is needed , 



to demonstrate in the 'most complete 



manner the need and value of these The attention that has been given to 



forests for national purposes. The thls somewhat remarkable document is 



change was probably made in order to out of all proportion to its scientific 



facilitate the passage of the bill trough value, but when a man who is known 



Congress, and in the belief, which we as the Chief of the United States 



hope is well founded, that within five Weather Bureau issues such a report 



years its usefulness would have been upon a subject that is of vital interest 



sufficiently demonstrated to establish to the whole country, and that bears 



the policy. upon many of its most important ques- 



Whatever differences of opinion there tions, the public as a whole is likely 



may be upon special features of the to estimate the statement by the posi- 



bill, it must be remembered that it is tion held by its author, without a close 



the product of the careful study of some examination of his authority, his quali- 



of the ablest men in the House of Rep- fications to judge of the subject in 



resentatives, and that they have also hand, or the scientific accuracy of his 



consulted with some of the senators reasoning. On these points it may be 



who have been particularly interested in said that whatever position may be ac- 



this measure, and that the bill is the form corded the Chief of the Weather Bu- 



of legislation which they believe to be reau as a meteorologist, he has not 



most practicable. It is, therefore, nee- qualified in any respect as a physiog- 



essary that all friends of the great ob- rapher or as a forest engineer, and the 



ject towards which this bill is directed men who have so qualified have a right 



should put their shoulders to the wheel to contradict his conclusions, as they 



in the united effort to push it through almost unanimously do. Mr. Moore 



to the long-sought goal. consciously and intentionally considers. 



