by meager soil, by lack of sufficient coal and wood. The people of 

 that time will doubtless solve their problems as best they may, and 

 any speculations we might make at this time would certainly be far 

 from future realization, but that the problems of pinching economy 

 will confront our descendants is beyond all question; and, therefore, 

 the paramount duty remains to us to transmit to our descendants the 

 resources which nature has bequeathed to us as nearly undiminished 

 in amount as is possible, consistent with living a rational and frugal 

 life. Now that we have imposed upon us the responsibility of know- 

 ledge, to do less than this would be a base communal crime. ' ' 



4 i * 



A PRACTICAL VIEW 



From an article by H. Von Schon, a hard-headed working engineer, in 

 Engineering Magazine. 



"A bare, hard-baked surface absorbs but little water; a forested 

 area with its deep layer of leaves, brush and humus is a sponge which 

 becomes saturated with the water; it is a natural storage reservoir. 

 The rapid storm surface run-off erodes the top soil and carries it in 

 suspension, dropping it somewhere in the lower channels; timbered 

 slopes obstruct this surface run-off ; it gathers force but slowly ; it finds 

 no loose earth or gravel to carry along ; the foliage canopy of the trees 

 breaks the force of the downpouring rain, which reaches the ground 

 gradually; finally, the snowfall on the open hillsides melts quickly 

 under the influence of the wind and the sun, while that in the forest 

 remains to melt gradually and then to sink into the ground. 



"That water waste with its collateral flood destructions of life and 

 property, the constantly increasing erosions of the fruitful top soil, 

 and the consequent impoverishing of what remains, and the sedimenta- 

 tion of river channels, are primarily caused by the cutting away of 

 the forests in the headwater region of rivers, was recognized and acted 

 upon by some of the European peoples hundreds of years ago; little 

 Switzerland enacted a forest-conservation statute as early as 1680, 

 which has been enforced in a most business-like manner since ; 20 per 

 cent of the mountain republic's area is in conserved forests, some 

 2,000,000 acres ; the cost of maintenance and supervision is $1.32 and 

 the net revenue, $2.25 per acre annually. 



"Germany's forest area is 35,000,000 acres; its system of forest 

 preservation was inaugurated one hundred and fifty years ago. France 

 has 23,000,000 acres of forests, all under admirable preserve laws. 

 The combined population of these two countries exceeds that of the 

 United States about 15,000,000. They now expend annually on forest 

 preservation some $11,000,000 and enjoy a net revenue of about $300,- 

 000,000. 



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