62 



RECREATION. 



A WISE GOVERNOR. 



No doubt many friends of forest pres- 

 ervation have read with regret that 

 Governor Odell, of New York, vetoed 

 the appropriation of $200,000 which was 

 to be used by the Forest Preserve Board 

 to extend the State holdings in the Adi- 

 rondack forest preserve. As long as the 

 money was available — and the vigorous 

 retrenchment policy of the Governor had 

 no doubt assured this — it would to be 

 sure not have been a mistake for the 

 State to acquire more forest lands, carry- 

 ing out the plan inaugurated by Governor 

 Black for the final establishment of the 

 proposed 2,000,000 acre preserve. 



Nevertheless, the Governor's reasons 

 for the veto are sound on general princi- 

 ples and show him to be a wise states- 

 man. He objects to the appropriation 

 because there is no definite plan in exis- 

 tence neither for the purchase nor for the 

 management of the lands hitherto acquired 

 and to be acquired, for the acquisition of 

 which already over $2,000,000 have been 

 expended; and until such plan be formu- 

 lated further purchases appear to him un- 

 desirable. 



The position is properly taken. The 

 time has long been ripe for the Commis- 

 sion in charge of the forest preserve to 

 have such a definite plan. The inefficiency 

 of the former forest commissions is per- 

 haps nowhere illustrated so patently as 

 in the absence of such a plan. It is hoped 

 the new commission, which, within 2 

 years, will reduce itself to one commis- 

 sioner, will take the Governor's broad 

 hint and prepare at once to answer the 

 Governor's objection. 



Such a plan of administration must be 

 of the broadest kind. It is not satisfied 

 by the making of detail measurements 

 and determining the quantity of spruce 

 that may be removed from any township 

 without being found out by the unob- 

 servant as the last commission, at an 

 expense of $2,500, tried to determine, and 

 for which purpose an additional $3,500 is 

 to be spent this year. Such detail meas- 

 urements are interesting and useful, but 

 they are not needed to determine on a 

 policy of management for a million acre 

 property. 



The first step toward formulating such 

 a policy or plan of management is to 

 know the conditions of the property. A 

 broad descriptive survey is needed, such 

 as a professional forester of broad ex- 

 perience could, with proper assistance, 

 furnish in one season. There are, no 

 doubt, records on file and knowledge in 

 existence among the employees of the 

 commission regarding the conditions of 

 much of the property; but it is doubtful 

 whether even this partial information is 

 in accessible and useful form. There is 



certainly in none of the commission's re- 

 ports such a description as a manager 

 would wish. Such a description must 

 contain not only statements as to the 

 character, condition and location of each 

 parcel, but as to its relation to market, 

 local or otherwise. Such a description 

 can satisfactorily be made only by a prac- 

 tically educated forester, who, like the 

 physician, diagnoses with a view to de- 

 vising remedies. It will then be possible 

 to determine not what may be done here 

 and there, where fancy or political and 

 personal pull directs attention, but what 

 should and could be done in all parts of 

 the property. A real administration can 

 then be inaugurated. It is to be hoped 

 the Governor will secure this plan. 



A LAW INIMICAL TO LUMBERMEN AND 

 FORESTRY. 



A peculiar law, directed against alien 

 ownership of timber land, but much more 

 far reaching and directly inimical to lum- 

 bermen and indirectly inimical to the de- 

 velopment of forestry, was passed this 

 spring by the Legislature of North Caro- 

 lina. It bore the innocent local title "An 

 act to prevent the felling of trees on cer- 

 tain streams of Beaufort County"; but 

 its provisions are that no corporation 

 shall be allowed to hold or lease more 

 than 300 acres of timber land, unless it 

 maintains a mill within the State at which 

 the timber shall be manufactured. No 

 corporation unless created under the laws 

 of North Carolina and having its princi- 

 pal place of business in North Carolina 

 shall hold more than 300 acres of timber 

 land; and any person or corporation 

 violating the provisions of the act shall 

 forfeit all the timber lands in excess of 

 300 acres. 



That lumbermen now holding lands in 

 North Carolina, but incorporated in other 

 States, will experience inconvenience 

 from this law is self evident, but it may 

 not be quite clear how forestry may suf- 

 fer. Forestry is a conservative business. 

 It has as much concern with the future 

 as with the present. Forestry is a busi- 

 ness which under present economic con- 

 ditions in the United States can be profi- 

 tably carried on. only on large areas and 

 by large capital or by governments. Its 

 financial principle is invariably to forego 

 present revenue for the sake of future 

 revenue; a principle which only the large 

 capitalist or the eternal person of the 

 State can afford or is willing to satisfy. 

 Hence, while farms may be divided and. 

 thereby intensity in the use of the soil 

 may be secured through small individual 

 farmers, in forestry it is size of the property 

 to be managed under one hand which as- 

 sures profits. The profitable showing of 

 European forest administrations is due 



