THE INFLUENCE OF FORESTS ON CLIMATE AND FLOODS 217 



sions that floods are not more numer- 

 ous, etc. 



The entire paper is a jumble, it deals 

 with a lot of irrelevant stuff crudely and 

 poorly put together. It is full of fal- 

 lacy and contradiction and is an insult 

 to the thinking and observing people of 

 our country. But it is even more. We 

 have here an official of the United States 

 Department of Agriculture going out of 

 his way to oppose a most important 

 piece of constructive and useful legisla- 

 tion, exerting himself to oppose the ex- 

 press wishes of millions of people, of 

 dozens of prominent associations, of 

 several state governments. And why 

 all this ? Is it because the law is a dan- 

 gerous one, one that is likely to harm 

 any person, any district? No, it is a 

 simple effort at keeping a few million 

 acres covered with woods to prevent 

 the same millions of acres from becom- 

 ing waste land. Then why does Mr. 

 Moore exert himself? Are the reasons 

 for this law so untrue in fact ? Are there 

 exact scientific data to prove them un- 

 true? Evidently not, for if this "report" 

 is any criterion, it is evident tJiat the be- 

 lief of the people of the whole civilized 

 world is based on observation, good 

 sense and experience, all of which seem 

 sadly lacking in Mr. Moore's paper. 



Then wh does Mr. Moore do this ? 



FORESTS AS FACTORS IN STREAM 

 FLOW 



By L. C. GLENN, Professor of Geology in Vanderbilt University 



IT HAS been the writer's good for- 

 tune to spend a number of seasons 

 studying in the field the problems of 

 denudation and erosion as presented in 

 the Southern Appalachians and in the 

 Monongahela river basin. As the result 

 of this study certain conclusions have 

 been reached as to the role forests play 

 in the production of floods, the erosion 

 of lands, and the silting of streams that 

 are believed to be based on too great an 

 amount and variety of direct field evi- 

 dence to be successfully controverted. 

 This investigation was undertaken to 



secure data bearing on the proposition 

 to create a national forest reservation 

 in the region examined. The examina- 

 tion showed that in many places condi- 

 tions are already bad and are steadily 

 becoming worse and that remedial meas- 

 ures need to be taken without delay, to 

 protect the forests on steep slopes and 

 to prevent erosion, silting, flood dam- 

 ages and interference with navigation. 

 Because of the inter-state character of 

 the streams involved, such remedial 

 measures can only be taken by the fed- 

 eral government and several bills, the 

 latest of which is the Weeks bill, have 

 been introduced in Congress in the last 

 few years seeking to remedy these con- 

 ditions. Until recently the opponents of 

 such federal action have had little or no 

 material on which to base their opposi- 

 tion. Recently, however, several cham- 

 pions have appeared, the latest of whom 

 is Prof. Willis L. Moore, chief of the 

 Unied States Weather Bureau. A re-- 

 cent report by him on "The Influence of 

 Forests on Climate and on Floods" is 

 being widely circulated and used as an 

 argument against the creation of these 

 forest reserves, since the report is a 

 denial that forests exert any beneficial 

 influence on climate or floods. 



This report of Professor Moore is 

 too full of errors to be let pass unchal- 

 lenged. Some of these errors are due 

 to the statements made by Professor 

 Moore being too broad and sweeping ; 

 some are due, either to Professor 

 Moore's failure to grasp what the ad- 

 vocates of reforestation really propose 

 to do, or to a failure on his part to 

 make an adequate statement of their 

 proposals; some are due to his confus- 

 ing conditions on mountain head-waters 

 with conditions on the lower navigable 

 portions of river systems ; some are due 

 to a lack of information on his part of 

 the actual conditions that prevail over 

 thousands of square miles in the South- 

 ern Appalachians. Furthermore, a 

 considerable portion of the report is not 

 pertinent to the case in hand, so that 

 when the non-pertinent and the errone- 

 ous portions are discarded there is but 

 little left. So much for a general state- 



