EDITl 'RIAL 





fore it pained an) headway at all. and 

 the timber saved thereby is worth nn>re 

 than the total cost of all the launcln 



bought by the Servi< The tin 



Parted in the timber on the lull- above 

 the lake: to make the trip around tin- 

 end of the lake, by land, would have 

 taken the better part of t\\,. da\ s ; the 

 launch made it aero-- ju an hour or 

 We might say that steam lire engines 

 are a needless extravagance on the part 

 of a city; the engines stand idle tin- 

 greater part of the time. I'.ut supp 

 cities were without them ? 



The Service Itself 



FINALLY, is the Forest Service a 

 valuable hard-working, indispensa- 

 ble part of the Government, or is it. as 



the Senator says, a farce? If it were 

 the latter, we fancy there would be less 

 opposition to it in the West or any- 

 where else, for that matter. No or- 

 ganization, of whatever character, that 

 is not more than ordinarily active, and 

 that is not doing a great deal of work, 

 is ever abused. Xo; the Senator is un- 

 happy in his choice of adjectives. Ac- 

 tive. aggressive, even impertinent 

 when its activities are looked at from 

 the viewpoint of certain equally aggres- 

 sive western interests the Forest Serv- 

 ice may be, but never farcical. It is 

 doing a work that is perhaps more vital- 

 Iv necessary to the well-being of the 

 whole country than that of anv other 

 single bureau of the (lovernmcnt. 

 < >nly the preliminary steps iu the work 

 have as yet been taken : the labors that 

 remain to be performed over-hadow the 

 actual accomplished work as Pike's 

 Peak overshadow- the foothills. If the 

 fore-ts of the \Yest are to be saved 

 from a fate like that which ha- already 

 overtaken those of the La-t. the work 

 of the Forest Service mu-t go on, in- 

 creasing in scope as it proceed-. M 

 any man who pretend- to the abilitv to 

 think consecutively and to reason from 

 premise to conclu-ion can -ay tin-re 

 no need for the w< >rk of tin- ]' 

 Service, and that the view; advanced b\ 

 it are the hahhlr C crank- and hai 



brained thcori-t-. pa- ., - tl 

 -ion of the \\ riter. P- I) the 

 if M ichigan u a-, 'birr 

 red with a 



timber a- valuable a- th:r in 



any of the we-terr 



that timber now ' ne ah-- .'ntely 



and irrevocablv i^-ne . stripp 'he 



-and and rock- of ti 

 -ami- i< true of the greater part of \', 

 con -m. Likewise it is true of the moun- 

 tains of Kentucky and Teinie--e<- '!' 

 (i ii '. ' if 1 'enn-ylvania ; t: 

 Y< irk, and the NVv . land 



True, al-o of the Smith Atlai ' 

 I- there any rea-u to believe that \\ 

 ern timberlands will fare an r if 



left unprotected- \nd when those tim- 

 ber tract- of the \\Y-t shall have ! 

 ravaged and stripped bare what of tin- 

 country? Wha 1 . of tin- farming land- 

 that require irrigation wa' What 

 the gra/.ing lands that mn-t 1- 

 water? And. finally, what of tin 

 growing nation that must have tin 

 and lumber? 



It will readily be gran'ed that rtam 

 individuals, who ha\e a winnir. 

 with state official-, would b - ttlv 

 benefited, financially, if tln-y \\ ere un- 

 hampered in their operation- b\ 

 Service rule- and official-. -tain 



gmup- of -tookmen in tin- : md 



gra/ing -tales. like\\i>e. would pi- 

 fare better financially, uere tl rn- 

 ment to rein - hamperr 

 lion hampering only in so far- 

 make stockmen pay for the benefit- thr\ 

 receive and ahc >li-h tin- 

 ice. Put that the < iovernment \\ ill 

 do any such thing i- n- ' 

 tin night for a -iiigle in-taut. Rat' 

 the activitie- > .f tin will 

 be increased from vear 

 work of tin- Reclamation 

 keep pace with it : the nev 

 on th< G itiservalion of Xatui 

 -ources u ill add -i-lh to tin 

 ..f protection, and tb 

 wlmle will not be IOUL; in 

 where the betle: ' 

 work. The lilt'' 

 who want e\< rv In 

 that . 

 



