HEARING ON THE APPALACHIAN 



BILL 



The Committee on Agriculture of 

 the House of Representatives has 

 granted a hearing on the Appalachian- 

 White Mountain bill, to take place at 

 the rooms of the committee, at ten 

 o'clock A. M., Thursday, January 30, 

 and to continue, if desired, on the 3ist. 



The importance of this hearing can 

 hardly be over-estimated. The Appa- 

 lachian bill has repeatedly passed the 

 Senate, and will, undoubtedly, again 

 pass that body at this session. The 

 failure of the bill has uniformly oc- 

 curred in the House ; and this, not 

 from an adverse vote in that body, for 

 a safe majority of the House is be- 

 lieved to have been favorable to it, but 

 from the failure of the bill to reach a 

 vote. 



Late in the first session of the 59th 

 Congress, the Appalachian bill was 

 granted a hearing before the Commit- 

 tee on Agriculture of the House of 

 Representatives. A strong presenta- 

 tion was made, and the bill was unani- 

 mously recommended by the Commit- 

 tee for passage. It was not reached in 

 the first session and the brevity of the 

 second session prevented its reaching 

 a vote unless "the extraordinary pow- 

 ers of the House should be invoked." 

 Such action the Committee on Rules 

 did not see fit to take. 



With an early and favorable report, 

 however, from the Committee on Agri- 

 culture, it seems probable that the bill 

 can be brought to a vote in the House 

 in the present long session. And 

 again, as heretofore, there is good 

 ground to hope that, if reached, it will 

 pass. In the circumstances, an early 

 and favorable report by the Commit- 

 tee becomes of transcendent import- 

 ance. 



The friends of the measure are spar- 

 ing no effort to secure a strong and 

 representative delegation to attend the 

 hearing and present to the Committee 

 every aspect of the case for the bill. 

 Numerous Governors of States, North 



and South, together with the fore- 

 most citizens in public and private life, 

 are expected to be present and to fur- 

 nish infallible proofs of the constitu- 

 tionality, wisdom, and necessity of the 

 legislation. There will undoubtedly 

 be representatives from all Eastern 

 and Southern States, and the indica- 

 tions are that the attendance will run 

 into the hundreds. 



Kxperience has shown that the press 

 of the country is practically a unit for 

 this legislation. It can now render a 

 notable service by widely announcing 

 this hearing, and urging the import- 

 ance of such a representation as shall 

 not fail to be heard and heeded. 



What New The interest of New 



En & land in the A PP ala ' 

 chian bill has been keen 



from the start. Everything that could 

 be clone to secure the passage of the 

 bill in the last Congress was done. 

 The result was that when the matter 

 came to a vote, last spring, near the 

 close of the session, not a single New 

 Kngland Congressman voted against 

 the proposition for a survey. Within 

 a nn -nth after the adjournment of Con- 

 gress a meeting had been called in Bos- 

 ton to lay plans for furthering the 

 campaign. Definite plans were made 

 for co-operation between the Massa- 

 chusetts Forestry Association, the So- 

 ciety for the Protection of New Hamp- 

 shire Forests, the Appalachian Moun- 

 tain Club, and the American Forestry 

 \ssociation. During the past season's 

 investigations these organizations have 

 helped in every way possible. 



As soon as the Committee on Agri- 

 culture announced that a hearing 

 would be given on the 3Oth, meetings 

 were immediately arranged in Boston 

 to plan a campaign. The several or- 

 ganizations are working with might 

 and main, and with good prospects of 

 success, to secure the attendance of all 

 the New England Governors and of 



