iS 9 9- 



AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 



277 



This rapidly growing shrub affords, in my 

 opinion, a far better means of conservation 

 for the waters than did the members of the 

 original grove of Sequoias, since in many, 

 if not all, of the localities, the thicket is 

 so dense that it prohibits the passage of 

 man. This feature has the evident ten- 

 dency to cause the mill and forest land- 

 owner to set aside all arguments relative 

 to the non-conservation of the waters 

 through the clearing of these forest lands. 



But what most heavily impresses the 

 lumberman is the fact that suitable war- 

 dens, in their minds, cannot be selected. 

 Suppose, for example, that a supervisor 

 should be selected by the Federal or State 

 governments. Either of these would be 

 prone to follow their present doctrines of 

 economy. The warden would not receive 

 a sufficient salary. He would thus be open 

 to corruption in nine cases out of ten and 

 with his fingers closely grasping a gold 

 piece, he would find the occasion timely 

 for a visit to a distant locality when an 

 infraction of the forest laws was in pros- 

 pect. 



This absence of trust in the integrity of 

 the appointee is to be deplored, but it is 

 natural on the part of the millman, and 

 makes the latter view with suspicion all 

 endeavors to secure possible enactments 

 for re-forestation and water conservation 

 and the furtherance of the same through 

 the acts of wardens. This statement may 

 seem too sweeping, but this idea is sup- 

 ported by the remarks of many of the 

 authorities who know of what they speak, 

 from years of experience in the manufac- 

 ture of redwood products. High wages 

 seem an impossibility: without which 

 comes the almost certain liability of cor- 

 ruption of the State and Federal officers. 



In the consideration of the idea of 

 governmental selection of the timber 

 to be felled there enters the element of 

 wisdom. This characteristic is an ab- 

 solute essential. Bohemia has proven the 

 success of similar schemes of forest super- 

 vision by the government, but the condi- 

 tions confronting- the warden here in Cali- 

 fornia are vastly different. Let the timber 

 of a certain gulch be selected for exploita- 

 tion. The company constructs a logging 



way, it may be either a skid road or a 

 railroad, at considerable expense, and, for 

 remuneration, this company depends upon 

 the receipt of timber in large enough 

 quantities and of medium qualities from 

 the affected district. Here is where the 

 wisdom on the part of the warden proves 

 a necessity. Should he subject the timber 

 to an unwise and too exacting supervision, 

 the company would necessarily suffer a 

 heavy loss on their logging-road outlay. 

 From that occasion the suffering lumber- 

 man would seize every means in his 

 power to circumvent the functions of the 

 supervising government agent. But if the 

 latter be wise and possessed of a thorough 

 knowledge of his profession (for it must 

 be a profession), the company is concili- 

 ated and a good effect accomplished. 

 Under all other conditions save this single 

 welcome one, the warden encourages the 

 furtherance of a vast amount of evil, 

 rather than of good. 



The greatest danger feared by the mill 

 owner is that governmental action will not 

 be uniform or accurately adjusted to the 

 varying conditions of timber localities. 

 To be successful and of permanent benefit, 

 the Pine, the Spruce, the Fir and the Red- 

 wood properties must be superintended 

 jointly and wisely on a thoroughly un- 

 biased plan or else the results will be nil. 



Relative to the proposal of the govern- 

 mental purchase of cut-over lands, the 

 same does not meet with approval of the 

 Redwood lumbermen. In the Pacific 

 Northwest the conditions may be more 

 favorable, since the mills are owned by in- 

 dividuals who purchase the logs from 

 others. But the Redwood manufacturers 

 own their own lands and accomplish their 

 individual logging for their owir plants. 

 These companies will not dispose of their 

 cut-over lands since, in the majority ot 

 cases, their logging operations extend back 

 from adjacent rivers tributary to the ocean 

 and the right of way over these lands de- 

 termines the increments of expense and 

 time. Again, should the companies dis- 

 pose of their lands near these rivers, the 

 occupation of such would be dangerous to 

 the purchasers because of the frequency of 

 log-jams and the subsequent flooding of 



