27 -^ 



Canadian Forestry Journal, November, IQ15. 



THE TREE MURDERERS. 



(Editorial, Ottawa Free Press.) 

 The attention of The Free Press 

 Avas called the other day to the ac- 

 tion of the civic authorities in con- 

 senting to the cutting down of a 

 number of trees on the bank of the 

 river at the end of Daly avenue. 

 Having always taken a keen pride in 

 the hundreds of old trees in the 

 streets and parks of the city, and be- 

 ing interested in their preservation 

 as are thousands of other citizens, 

 enquiry was made at the city hall 

 about the matter. There it was 

 learned that the civic authorities had 

 given permission to a private citizen 

 to have the trees removed because 

 "they obstructed his view." 



In explanation of his part in the 

 matter, the official to whom The 

 Free Press spoke stated that "the 

 only purpose served by the trees" 

 was in affording safeguard against 

 vehicles running over the river bank. 

 As the citizen whose view was ob- 

 structed offered to put up a fence to 

 serve this purpose, authority was 

 given him to cut down the trees. 



Having seen contractors in vari- 

 ous parts of the city ruthlessly hack 

 down fine old trees rather than set 

 a projected building back a few feet, 

 the explanation did not come alto- 

 gether as a surprise. Tree vandal- 

 ism seems to be in the blood of a 

 large number of our people. Walk- 

 ing on a country road not far from 

 Ottawa the other day, we noticed 

 that for a distance of over a mile 

 every elm tree fifty yards apart in a 

 row at one side had been mutilated 

 and completely spoiled to permit of 

 the stringing of a power line. There 

 seemed no reason why the poles car- 

 rying that electric wire should not 

 have been carried out three or four 

 feet. The tree butchers simply could 

 not spare the axe, and the pictures- 

 que growth of half a century was 

 destroyed in a few minutes. 



What an abomination this reduc- 

 ing- everything to a basis of utilitar- 

 ianism is. For instance, the Ottawa 



FORESTERS AND RANGERS 



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Compasses 

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 Log Rules 



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529 Sussex St. OTTAWA, ONT. 



civic authorities maintaining that 

 this city can afford to cut down its 

 beautiful trees and build hideous 

 fences in their place. 



In this connection, too, we fear 

 there is a lack of proper supervision 

 in the work of tree trimming. Twice 

 a year one sees men cutting and 

 slashing at the great trees along our 

 principal streets. It is only a few 

 weeks since we noticed such opera- 

 tions on Metcalfe street. Protest 

 was made by one of the tree trim- 

 mers to the foreman against the re- 

 moval of a great limb. "Oh, cut it 

 off," was th^e careless command of 

 the foreman, who, whatever his ex- 

 ecutive ability may have been, did 

 not bear the appearance of a man 

 qualified to judge of the value of 

 trees. As a matter of fact, the "job 

 of tree inspector" is frequently made 

 the subject of jokes at the board of 

 control meetings. 



