SOUTHEKN APPALACHIAN REGION. 



35 



mountain slopes already cleared, are here properl}" national 

 functions, for their results will be national in importance 

 and extent. Furthermore, it is perfectly safe to assert 

 that anj" satisfactory protection and development of these 

 forests for the objects here contemplated is wholh^ beyond 



_ the agency of private individuals ; and such persons 

 would have no direct interest whatever in the protection 

 and perpetuation of water-power, agriculture, and navi- 

 gation along the lower courses of the sti'eams whose head- 

 waters they control. 



Nor can the States within whose territory these lands p^^wnersWp an^^ 

 now lie be expected to convert them into a forest reserve. cawe'^°' practi- 

 The land is not owned by the States, but by private indi- 

 viduals. It is true that some of the wealthier States, like 

 New York and Pennsylvania, are showing an^ intelligent 

 and commendable interest in purchasing forest lands and 

 establishing forest reserves for the protection of the 

 sources of streams lying within their own boundaries and 

 for the conservation of the forests. But the case is wholly 

 different in the Southern Appalachian region. North 

 Carolina can not, for example, fairly be expected to 

 establish a forest reserve at great expense for the protec- 

 tion of streams which though rising within her borders lie 



. mainly in other States. Nor could Alabama be expected 

 to pui-chase lands in the State of Georgia for the protection 

 of her great river which reaches the Gulf in Mobile Bay. 

 Nor could W est Virginia be expected to purchase lands in 

 North Carolina for the protection of the sources of the 

 Kanawha River, the largest lateral tributary of the Ohio. 



Furthermore, even were these States willing to enter ,P"^'chase of 



^ _ _ " these forests too 



upon such a plan, their financial condition is not such as i^ostiy for the 



. states, but the 



to make the undertaking possible. The combined income ^tateswuiing tor 



J- _ Federal control. 



for a year of all the States within whose borders these 

 lands lie would hai'dly be sufficient for their purchase. 

 As shown, however, in the Appendix (p. 172), each of 

 the States within whose borders these mountain lands are 

 located has by legislative act expressed its hearty approval 

 of this measure and its willingness to cede the control of 

 these lands to the Federal Government. 



This is a national problem. The people of a number of tbe^^^fore^ts *a 

 States are di recti}" interested. The dangers growing out J^^^^^'O"*' 

 of the policy now in force are national in their character, 

 as are also the benefits to be obtained by the policy now 

 advised. This proposal for a national forest reserve has 

 already been discussed and commended by our ablest men 



