EDITORIAL 



231 



again, as in Asia Minor, the natural re- 

 sources have largely been destroyed. 



Again, blessed as is peace, and ever 

 to be desired and sought, what guaran- 

 tee have we that the United States is 

 permanently immune from war? Not 

 long since, our armada encircled the 

 globe, and hints have been dropped 

 from high quarters that there was 

 method in this apparent madness. At 

 least one public man of ability, char- 

 acter, and standing, with a vehemence 

 and zeal comparable with that of De- 

 mosthenes when he urged the Athen- 

 ians to guard themselves against the 

 designs of Philip of Macedon, trav- 

 erses the country warning the Amer- 

 ican people against a condition which, 

 after profound and detailed study, is 

 manifestly, in his judgment, a menace 

 to the United States. He, at least, is 

 convinced, as was Demosthenes, that a 

 foreign power has for years been plot- 

 ting hostilities against this country. 

 Furthermore, he assures his audiences 

 that high authorities, unable to say so 

 publicly, agree with him perfectly. 



As to whether or not such a danger 

 exists, this publication has no adequate 

 knowledge and, therefore, no opinion 

 to express. It is, however, prepared 

 to propound a question : 



Suppose a foreign power, or a com- 

 bination of such powers, should attack 

 the United States. Would it then be a 

 matter of indifference to the Govern- 

 ment at Washington, either legislative 

 or executive, that our forests had been 

 cut and burned away, and our re- 

 sources in general ravished and de- 

 spoiled in the manner already familiar 

 to our readers? Would any one then 

 raise the question whether supplies 

 needful for the National safety were 

 located in New England or the South, 

 whether they were connected with the 

 navigability of rivers, whether the at- 

 tempt to save them might involve the 

 stretching of constitutional powers or 

 the spending of more money than was 

 at first estimated ? Instead, every ra- 

 tional reader knows that all such sub- 

 terfuges and petty excuses would be 

 swept aside like chaff; and, with them, 

 if necessary, the statesmen hiding be- 

 hind them. In tones which none would 



dare ignore, the Nation would demand 

 the opportunity to avail itself of its 

 full strength ; and that demand would 

 be heeded. 



And if it be necessary, in the face 

 of actual war, to conserve the Nation's 

 sources of strength, why should it not. 

 while time and opportunity still re- 

 main, likewise be necessary in the face 

 of possible war? And if it be neces- 

 sary for purposes of war, why should 

 it not be necessary for purposes of 

 peace ? 



&' & & 



Do They Represent the West ? 



IT IS noteworthy that the Appalachian 

 bill was struck down in the Senate 

 by the action of certain Rocky Moun- 

 tain senators, notably Messrs. Teller 

 and Hey burn. The questions naturally 

 arise : Do these men represent the sen- 

 timent of the West ? Shall we say that 

 the Eastern forests bill was killed by 

 the West? If so, what do we mean by 

 the West? The territory west of the 

 Mississippi, or of the Missouri, or of 

 the Rocky Mountains, or that included 

 in the Rocky Mountain states, or in cer- 

 tain of those states only? 



Friends of Appalachian legislation 

 vividly remember the aid extended by 

 the East to the enactment of the Rec- 

 lamation law, and are inclined to won- 

 der whether the West, as such, is dis- 

 posed to repay good with evil. The 

 writer inclines strongly to the belief 

 that the senators in question repre- 

 sent in no sense the whole West, no 

 considerable section of the West, nor 

 perhaps even the sentiment of the ma- 

 jority of the people in their own states. 

 He notes the fact that one of the two 

 senators named was, at the very mo- 

 ment he was slaughtering the Ap- 

 palachian bill, ending his own career 

 in the Senate. The other senator named 

 had, it is true, just been re-elected ; 

 nevertheless, Forester Pinchot, it is 

 credibly reported, not long since deliv- 

 ered an address on forestry in that very 

 senator's town, and was applauded to 

 the echo. 



For the sake of the West, and of 

 mutual good feeling between the sec- 



