546 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



December 



cess. Erosion follows his operations, 

 and the land becomes a series of 

 worthless gullies. 



Next may be mentioned the profes- 

 sional wood-cutters, including tan-bark 

 men, pulp men and lumberers. The 

 first seek only the bark ; but, like the 

 hunter of flamingoes' tongues or buf- 

 falo hides, they leave behind them to 

 rot, after collecting their tribute, a 

 huge but worthless residue. The pulp 

 man cuts clean, good, bad, large, small, 

 old and young, thus making natural 

 reproduction of the forest impossible. 

 The lumberman take's what he wants, 

 much or little, but by methods that 

 destroy almost as much as he takes, 

 and practically insure fires, which 

 complete the work of denudation. 



Having conquered and burnt Carth- 

 age, Scipio passed the plow through 

 its site. The corresponding final touch 

 is given to the deforested mountain 

 slopes by the rains. While the forests 

 remain, these regulate the run-off, 

 holding back the water, passing it into 

 the underground circulation, and in- 

 suring, throughout the year, a sub- 

 stantially equal stream flow, greatly to 

 the advantage of agriculture, com- 

 merce, manufactures and all other in- 

 terests concerned. 



But the forests gone, and the very 

 soil a vegetable mold eaten away 

 by the flames, this conservative influ- 

 ence no longer operates. Torrents 

 now rush down the mountain sides, 

 filling streams and harbors, producing 

 overflows, denuding farms of their 

 soils or burying them with sand, de- 

 stroying water powers and sweeping 

 away railroads, bridges, factories, 

 houses, even villages. In this way, as 

 by the Pacolet disaster, property 

 valued at four and a half million dol- 

 lars has been destroyed in a single 

 day ; while, as in i90i-'o2, eighteen 

 millions, have been carried away in a 

 year. The continviation of this pro- 

 cess means, as in vast areas in the Old 

 World, the rapid transformation of 

 the region affected into a desert. 



And the remedy? Experience, Euro- 

 pean and American, teaches but one. 

 Private initiative, and the individual 



struggle for life and profit, necessitate 

 the onward march of the forces of de- 

 struction. A reversal of policy is es- 

 sential. Laisses faire must give place 

 to national ownership and administra- 

 tion. On this, all concerned are 

 agreed. The following testimonials 

 are typical : 



"If no steps by the Government of 

 the United States are taken the entire 

 tree system of these states will be ob- 

 literated, leaving the peaks and valleys 

 of six great States of the Union di- 

 vested of timber and foliage." New 

 York Tribune. 



"It is most sincerely to be hoped that 

 this admirable scheme will be quickly 

 and cordially taken up by Congress 

 and carried to success. It is a case of 

 now or never. ' '-Boston (Mass. ) Iran- 

 script. 



"Here are rich forests, capable, under 

 Federal ownership and management, 

 of producing a constant and increas- 

 ing supply of valuable and necessary 

 timber, fuel, and paper supplies, but 

 which, under private ownership and 

 control, are slowly but surely being 

 converted into centers of widespread 

 disaster. "-Governor John McLane, of 

 New Hampshire, before House Com- 

 mittee on Agriculture, April 25, 1906. 



"The preservation of the forests, of 

 the streams, and of the agricultural 

 interests here described can be suc- 

 cessfully accomplished only by the 

 purchase and creation of a national 

 forest reserve * * * Federal ac- 

 tion is obviously necessary, fully justi- 

 fied by reasons of public necessity, and 

 may be expected to have most fortu- 

 nate results. ' ' Secretary of Agriculture 

 Wilson, quoted with approval by Pres- 

 ident Roosevelt. 



The bill now before Congress has 

 the approval of all friends of the for- 

 est. It appropriates $3,000,000 for the 

 purchase of lands from which are to 

 be created two national forest reserves, 

 one in the Southern Appalachians and 

 the other in the White Mountains. One 

 million dollars is to be expended in 

 New Hampshire and two million in 

 the South. The authority to select the 

 land and make the purchases is vested 



