TWENTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL MEETING 



155 



A FREE HAND 



The value of a free hand in accom- 

 plishing practical results was strikingly 

 brought out by Dr. Rothrock in the 

 following statement : 



The great success of Pennsylvania for- 

 estry work is due to the fact that we are 

 not a subordinate branch of the Govern- 

 ment and that we have a department of 

 forestry. It is coordinate in its import- 

 ance with the Department of Internal Af- 



fairs, with the Department of Public In- 

 struction, or with any other department 

 of the state government, and the head of 

 that department is a member of the gover- 

 nor's cabinet. We have no one to consult, 

 no one to hold us back, but we are a de- 

 partment devoted solely and entirely to the 

 forestry interests of the state and nothing 

 else. It is a great step. It is the one potent 

 lever that has enabled us to make the prog- 

 ress we have made. 



FLOOD VERSUS DROUGHT 



A notable example of the contrast 

 between the superfluity of water at one 

 time and its paucity at another was 

 given by Dr. Rothrock in the case of 

 Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Referring, 

 first, to the flood of some twenty years 

 ago, which practically swept the town 

 out of existence, he said : 



Last spring I passed by Johnstown. It is 

 a great mining region. The hills around 



there are denuded of timber * * * 

 There is nothing to hold the rain, and every 

 hillside was weeping water. The whole sur- 

 face was saturated with it, and the Cone- 

 maugh was a raging flood. Six weeks ago 

 Johnstown, cursed by a previous flood and 

 blessed last spring by a copious supply from 

 the clouds, was in a vastly different condi- 

 tion. The people were glad to get their 

 drinking water from the puddles around the 

 town. 



View of Missouri Pacific Railroad Bridge at Kansas City after the Flood 



