138 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



March 



ing public sentiment to the importance 

 of the Appalachian National Forest 

 Bill, introduced in the House by Mr. 

 Currier, of New Hampshire, and Mr. 

 Lever, of South Carolina. The bill asks 

 for an appropriation of $5,000,000 and 

 provides that 5,000,000 acres in the 

 Southern Appalachian Mountains and 

 600,000 acres in the White Mountains 

 be set aside as National Forests for 

 the purpose of preserving the timber 

 and protecting the watersheds of 

 great rivers. 



CONSTITUTIONALITY OF THE BILL. 



One of the strongest and most val- 

 uable papers of the session, from the 

 standpoint of influence on legislation, 

 was that of Harvey N. Shepard, of 

 Boston, Mass., on the constitutionality 

 of the Appalachian-White Mountain 

 Bill. Mr. Shepard said that if the au- 

 thority of Congress to legislate for 

 any particular end is undisputed, then 

 the means to be used cannot be ques- 

 tioned, but is wholly within the dis- 

 cretion of Congress. 



It is conceded that Congress has the 

 power to control and regulate com- 

 merce; then, as a means to that end, 

 it has the power to establish National 

 Forests in the Appalachian Moun- 

 tains, so that the flow of the streams, 

 upon which commercial activity de- 

 pends, may be regulated and pre- 

 served. If Congress can make dams 

 to control the flow of rivers, it can 

 create and buy forest reserves also for 

 the same purpose. 



At the conclusion of Mr. Shepard's 

 unanswerable arguments he was ac- 

 corded a great ovation. 



Representative A. F. Lever, of 

 South Carolina, a member of the 

 House Committee on Agriculture, was 

 most hopeful of the success of the 



Appalachian bill, and spoke very elo- 

 quently in its favor, citing many in- 

 stances of similar legislation to prove 

 the constitutionality of the bill. He 

 said we could save millions by acting 

 now. 



Mr. W. J. McGee, a member of the 

 new and important Inland Waterways 

 Commission, gave many convincing 

 arguments in favor of preserving the 

 forests at the headwaters of navigable 

 streams. He said that every year 

 1,000,000,000 tons of soil are washed 

 by the rivers into the sea, which, at 

 the least value that can be put upon 

 it, fifty cents a ton for fertilizer, is 

 worth $500,000,000. Also that the 

 muddy water filled with silt from the 

 mountains and valleys eats away and 

 erodes the banks of streams, thus 

 widening the channel and lowering the 

 water, and interfering with naviga- 

 tion. Clear water does not erode. 

 The difference between clear water 

 and muddy water is the same as that 

 between a jet of air and a sand blast. 

 Mr. McGee further said that when 

 forests were once destroyed, restora- 

 tion was slow, and that where the 

 soil is washed away, it would be cen- 

 turies before the land would return to 

 its original fertility. Mr. McGee, a 

 physicist in the Bureau of Soils, 

 speaks as one who has given special 

 attention to this matter of soil ero- 

 sion. 



The last address of the evening was 

 by Mr. W. S. Lee, Jr.. of Charlotte, 

 N. C., who spoke very interestingly 

 on the vital question, Need of South- 

 ern Appalachian Forests for Protec- 

 tion of Water Power, saying particu- 

 larly if you save the silt from coming 

 down, by preserving the forests on the 

 mountains, you have solved one of the 

 great problems relating to navigation 

 and water power. 



