482 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
(Jaw. 16, 1885. 
SPARE THE FORESTS, 
ly. 
deg is nOW some years since sportsmen, tourists and others 
finding the area of the sylvan glades contracting from 
year to year, endeavored to startle the nation with the warn- 
ing that our forests were rapidly and hopelessly disappear- 
ing. The public aroused itself at the first note, inquired of 
the lumbermen as to the truth; were told that most of them 
had twenty or thirty years’ timber in sight, and that when 
that was exhausted there would probably be more timber 
grown up to take its place. The people then turned them- 
selves once more to the development of the resources of the 
country, and turned a deaf ear to all subsequent reiteration 
of the warning, But at the seat of government there were 
some good men and true (all honor to them) who determined 
to ascertain if there was any foundation for the warning. 
They set to work to collect statistics of the remaining avyail- 
able timber stock all over the country, The result of their 
labors was the publication of Professor Sargent’s illustrated 
report of 1880, a small document, but perhaps the most im- 
portant that has been issued from the Government press 
Within the last twenty years. In this report we have an 
outline of the remaining timber area, with not absolutely 
exact, but approximate and fairly reliable estimates of the 
pine timber on it, and these estimates compared with the 
current output indicated a thirteen years’ supply in 1880. 
The donothings said this was very satisfactory, as it showed 
an improvement on the estimates of ten years’ supply which 
had been announced and widely re echoed for some years 
previously, but the report set many men a thinking, 
Since that date the matter has been taken up by all sorts 
and conditions of men; by some in the interests of the gen- 
eral public, by others with the idea that the advancement 
of the interests of the individual is an adyancement to a 
limited extent of the interests of the whole. There is aloud 
demand that something should be done to spare the forests 
from annihilation, and every leader of the movement is fired 
with patriotic sentiments, although some of course have 
their own axes to grind. To cvery man the advancement of 
his personal welfare is a necessay part and evidence of the 
advancement of the general welfare, 
There are lumbermen, who have cut out their forests, loud 
in their assertion that the government ought to buy up the 
waters and restock them. They are loud in their demand 
for immediate action, for they are determined not to give 
up their lands until some conclusion shall have been arrived 
at, and meantime they are burdened with taxation. Other 
men who have timberlands for sale denounce the suggestion 
of resumption by law of eminent domain as iniquitous, but 
they are just as active in fanning the discussion into a blaze; 
they have noidea of impeding a great national movement, 
they only seek to place the recognition of their own claims 
to compensation on a satisfactory basis. Others again are con- 
scious of the will and capacity to render the nation good 
service in the administration of the State forests, and these 
too display a lively anxiety to urge forward a movement 
which promises them an opportunity of serving their coun- 
try. 
We, too, have our axe to grind. We stand forward as 
representative and mouthpiece of a, by no means, incon- 
siderable section of the public, of a host of practical, 
energetic citizens, who seek their diversion in forest and 
stream, Destroy the last vestige of the forest, and their 
occupation will be gone and ourselyes with it. But it would 
be wrong to infer that because we have our own axe to grind 
we are animated by no broader motives, In common with 
every citizen worthy of the name, we desire to preserve to 
our country the evergreen pines which adorn our mountain 
crests with « glorious halo, and cast their somber shadows 
in the glassy Jakes. In common with every citizen worthy 
of the name, we deprecate the extinction of one of the 
chief sources of the nation’s wealth and progress, and hold 
the man who fails to raise his voice to avert so great an im- 
pending calamity a traitor to his conntry, and the Govern- 
ment untrue to its responsibility that would sit by supinely 
and allow matters to drift. 
But, as we have said before, it is a matter the solution of 
which rests with no goyernment, no individual, no clique, 
It is a question for the people at large. It rests with the 
people to decide whether the ship of state shall be allowed 
to drift on to an inevitable commercial crisis, so widespread 
that none may hope to escape its consequences, or whether 
energetic measures shall at once be taken to steer clear of it. 
There are statesmen at the helm, and no statesman would 
recklessly imperil the ship’s safety, but the crew command 
—the ship bears their fortunes and the final responsibility is 
theirs. But it is the duty of statesmen to indicate the dan- 
ger and seek public support for remedial measures, 
And what is to be done? Giving to the economic aspect 
of the question the prominent place, we want, at least, an 
assured supply of twenty billions of pine lumber besides 
hardwood, in perpetuity. The nation’s forests are unable to 
sustain such a drain or any approximate to it, and no foreign 
countries are in a position to eke out the deficiency perma- 
nently. Twenty-five years ago we had forests which, pru_ 
dently administered, might, with economy, have covered the 
current national requirements, while being improved up to 
their full capacity. The bulk of those forests are destroyed; 
their area diverted to agriculture, or partially restocked with 
inferior timber, There is more or less of a timber famine 
‘ahead, which the nation mus tmeet as it best can, No cun- 
hands and placed under prudent administration. 
determining to preserve that, at least, intact, the output should 
be immediately reduced to the capabilities of the forests— 
say four billions annually. Natural forests are not fully 
equal to a drain of 2 per cent. per annum, but there is a 
in the estimates, 
niag statesmanship, no skilled forest administration, no leger- 
demain can enable us to avoid it, but by prudent measures 
the worst consequences may be averted, and the ship of 
State tided over in safety. This can be achieved by no 
small tinkering or half measures. The threatened evil can 
only be met by broad comprehensive measures, measures 80 
broad and sweeping that no statesman could undertake them 
unless assured of universal and energetic support. There is 
a baukrupt estate to be udministered in such wise that the 
balanee shall be secured, the lost area redeemed, and the whole 
property restored to its original value and capacity. This 
has been done in private life, and can be done with the State 
forest, but it never has been und never can be done without 
some present sacrifice, without retrenchment. Above all, it 
can never be done unless it is taken out of the spendthrifts’ 
The man 
who raises money on post obits at twenty per, cent com- 
pound interest is no more chargeable with recklessness than 
the State that alienates its forests at one-hundredth part of 
the sum it would cost to reproduce them. 
To indicate the most prudent line of action for adoption 
in this matter, it will be convenient to regard the whole forest 
property of the country as the monopoly of an individual or 
corporation, for such an individual or corporation, unham- 
pered by competition, would see at a glance that the present 
market price of timber in this country is not its intrinsic 
value, but an arbitrary price imposed by purchasers in an 
overstocked murket. 
The real value of an article of national 
necessity is not determined by the price at which it was ob- 
tained (our forests were a free inheritance), but by the cost 
at which it can be reproduced, tempered by competition 
with supplies from foreign sources. 
Accepting Prof. Sargent’s estimates of available stock, and 
considerable second growth, especially in the New England 
States, which were earliest cut over, which is not included 
We have, moreover, 2 considerable area 
of forest, which, if thinned out systematically instead of 
being ruthlessly laid low, would keep the forest in produc- 
tive activity. 
Under prudent and careful management we may assume 
that four billions a year could be taken from our forests 
without materially lowering their capacity, This reduction 
of expenditure to income would create such an active demand 
for Canadian pine as to divest the whole of her exports to 
this country, prices would rise with the demand, and North- 
ern Kurope, relieved from American and Canadian competi- 
tion in the English and other foreign markets, would be able 
to command prices rising in sympathy with ours, Ags re- 
gards the hypothetical monopolist of our forests, he would 
be gratified to recognize that the whole rise in value was a 
rise in value of stumpage—his costs of sending his timber to 
market would be the same, and arise of twenty dollars a 
thousand would mean that his timber in the forest, instead 
of being worth two dollars and a half a thousand, as at pres- 
ent, would be worth twenty-two and a half dollars, a price 
offering every inducement to devote a portion of the pro- 
ceeds of his annual four billions to the growth of fresh for- 
est. We believe it may be concluded safely that on the re- 
duction of the American output to four billions, there would 
be a rise in value of which twenty dollars a thousand would 
be but the beginning. 
As the Canadian supply tended to exhaustion, Northern 
Europe, aware that large areas had been restocked in this 
country, and tempted by high prices which could not be 
expected to prevail after their forests had begun to come to 
the axe in rotation, might be induced to deplete her forests, 
to minister to our needs, and such supplement to our home 
supplies proving izadequate, there would be an active de- 
mand for hemlock, maple and every species of hard and 
soft wood, which would command a good price. The ex- 
haustion of the Canadian timber, when it occurs, would 
make itself sensibly felt, but our absolute necessities in pine 
tiniber could still be met by Northern Europe at a price, and 
with a home supply of four billions, supplemented by 
hardwoods and an adequate area of growing forest yearly 
added to, the nation would tide over the difficulty without 
pavic—possibly at the sacrifice of two or three hundred 
millions a year. 
Would it be a piece of wise slatesmanship, of prudent 
policy for the people, to become the monopolists of their 
forests, as the governing power in other countries has done? 
Would it be wise to stop the sales of timber lands in the 
pine regions, fo buy up all the available standing stock of 
timber at present market value, and to administer the forests 
thus monopolized in the public interest? 
We say uvhesitatingly that if a corporation could secure 
all the forests of the country, at current rates, it might be 
made the most protitable speculation that ever corporation 
or individual embarked on. The actual value of the timber, 
the cost at which it could be reproduced, is moderately esti- 
mated at twenty dollars a thousand on the ground. A mon- 
opolist would bave no difficulty in realizing it. Present 
holders cannot put up prices for want of co-operation. 
Let us look now at the consequences of leaving the prob- 
lem to solve itself, of standing by with folded hands and 
letting the ship drift. We have ten, perhaps twelve, per- 
haps with second growth timber, fifteen years’ supply. 
When this would be cut out, there is every ground to believe 
that Canada’s supplies would be already exhausted. There 
is only Northern Europe to appeal to, we compete with Eng- 
land and other nations for her surplus, and if we are pre- 
pared to pay high enough, she will spare us what she can, 
but she cannot spare us twenty billions at any price. She 
has no such surplus to dispose of. 
The standing forests of America, estimated at two hundred 
billions of timber, consist in great part of southern pine in 
the hands of the State, and the balance could be bought up 
at an average of say three dollars a thousand. 
An ontlay of five hundred millions would probably secure 
the monopoly. If this measure resulted as we confidently 
anticipate, in a rise of twenty dollars per thousand on the 
value of the timber in the forest, then would result a net 
revenue of eighty millions as a return upon the outlay—a 
revenue more than sufficient to justify the anual restocking 
of an area proportioned to future requirements. 
Nor would there be any injury inflicted on any one by the 
acquisition of the forests by law of eminent domain liberally 
carried out. A private corporation could go into the market 
and buy up the State forests and the great bulk of those in 
priyate hands at lower figures than here indicated, or at 
least could have done if such a gigantic corner had not been 
discussed or suspected. The State should operate this eor- 
ner in the people’s interest, and the assured results of the 
measure would justify it in dealing liberally. 
Che Sportsman CGonvrist, 
CAMP FLOTSAM. 
X.—WHERE SABATTIS LED US. 
r pee camp was astir bright and early the next morning, 
breakfast was had and the lunch prepared and packed, 
for our cruise would, in all probability in thought, detain us 
abroad until nightfall. 
aboard and the whole party, including the Madame, with 
rods in hand, embarked. 
Montreal and a Lord Baltimore were adjusted and we set 
about trying the virtues of the newrod. Following the 
trend of the island its whole length, then across the passage 
which separated it from the next, and along the rocky shore 
of the latter to its upper point, whe drew the flies over every 
foot of the water without a rise. 
followed and cast over and along aledge which was three 
feet under water and ran some four hundred feet out into the 
bay. 
of v acre in extent, and worked over every pari of its sur- 
face. 
we found Sabattis and David, each with a skiff, waiting to 
lead us to the promised fishing ground. Jn the boat of the 
former, resting across the gunwales, was a rudely constructed 
box about three feet square and a foot deep, the car in which 
he kept his captured fish alive by setting it afloat alongside. 
The bait and Janding nets were seen 
A cast consisting of a searlet ibis, 
Then, leaving the land, we 
Next we tried a large shoul, something like a quarter 
From this we went up toward Knapp’s Point, where 
Our party was broken up and distributed in the two skifis, 
and then while David led the way up the lake with the rest, 
we ran over to Griffin Island midway of the lake, which was 
here about a mile and a half wide, to try our flies along its 
southern shore. It was a peerless morning, and as we 
rounded the point we caught the gentle breeze fromthe west 
which was sending a glorious ripple over the lake and 
among the islands which stood out aboye, below and in front 
with their gray rocky shores backed with a ground of 
living green. On the further shore, a range of barren 
cliffs loomed up against the sky which, with an occa- 
sional dead pine from which the limbs had been stripped 
on their summits, looked like some deserted stronghold 
whose flag had been lowered to an enemy which it could 
not withstand The bold and well-wooded shores of Griffin 
Island soon shut out the view, and following along a full 
mile without sight of a scale, we came to the upper point, 
on the very extremity of which stood a venerable and ma- 
jestic pine. Here we found Sabattis awaiting our arrival, 
and, thinking it was time to change the flies, we halted to re- 
place the Montreal and Lord Bualtimore-with a Canada and 
great king, While rearranging the cast we listened to the 
legend of the island and its pine tree, It was not a tale of 
the love of an Indian maiden nor an Algonquin myth, 
through which could be traced the thread leading back to 
the common nursery of world separated races, but a simple 
prosaic tale too commonplace to be deserving of a page in 
history. It was that of Griffin, a minor chief in some tribe, 
who had become a steadfast friend to the few palefaces 
who had penetrated here into the wilderness. The kindly 
oftices done the old man by these roused the ire and jealousy 
ot his people, by whom he was branded as a traitor to his 
race. Whether doomed in open council or by some secret 
tribunal was never known, but the dead body of the chief 
was found one day by a couple of hunters here on the point, 
where he had been shot to death. Inquiry was useless, and 
retaliation, at the time, impossible; but the white men made 
the grave of Griffin under the pine tree and laid him to rest 
among the boulders which, granite though they were, yet 
were less hard than the hearts of his people. ‘These latter 
have passed away to other hunting grounds and to death, 
while the old chief remains to possess the land, whose title 
none disputes with him, and to live in the memories which 
the island name brings up. 
Leaving the island we crossed to the southern shore, and 
followed its windings around another point without success, 
and after casting through the channel between the Twin 
Brothers and along the shores of these, we reeled in. Four 
miles of steady casting had brought something of weariness, 
so arrauging a comfortable seat low down in the stern, with 
its rounded end for a back, we settled down to rest. At the 
extremity of a wooded point, which projected into the lake, 
a pile of five blackened stones and the remains of a table 
marked the spot where some native had been in camp, With 
what an interest are these vestiges regarded by those of the 
craft, who come upon them in the solitude of the forest and 
on lonely lake or river. With what curiosity is read the 
history of that camp and the lives of its members, for these 
are written in everything that is left behind. The score of 
empty tin cans scattered about tell that the art of cookin 
was little practiced, and that meals of corned beef, canned 
salmon, turkey and chicken made camp life a burden. Here 
the east away poles denote that to some sport was a matter 
