The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1879-07-25


dssolstaon which Is recorded far back Of the
days OF Roman or even Of Grscisn glory, We
read that 90 man was famous according ~ ne
had lifted mp axes upon the thick trees" In
the days when American forests were consid-
cred practically limitless, our fathers were lar
too famous for lifting mp axes upon the thick
trees. and the resultant destruction Is even now
upon us, like the Philistines upon Samson
! This destruction comes upon US in many forms,
most Of which are, in fact, rapidly and terribly
cumulative. Here is a beautiful stream OF
water, for example, which was great element
OF wealth to the region through which 1t flowed
1t might not only have continued to be so, but
to have gained in usefulness instead OF being
either dead or surely and swiftly passing away.
The numberless little hollows on the hills
where were the springs which grew into rivu-
let's to feed it have been stripped Of the mois-
ture -economixing verdure with which the Gre
ator clothed them, and 30 the springs are dry,
and the rllls no longer murmur their once glad
songs of labor as they fastened down the val
leys to turn the mill wheels of mechanical in
dustry. In this one matter Of destruction OF
hydraulic power with which we have been al
ready smitten, hundreds Of millions OF dollars
of annual damage has been and is the actual
result. That this drying up Of the streams is
attributable not only chiefly to decreasing, but
almost solely to it, common sense-which is, in
fact, the very essence OF both fact and philosr
Rain feeds the springs. To feed them econom-
really, it should be gentle and frequent, not
violent and at long intervals. Intelligent for
est engineering would require that such portion
of hills be clothed with a mantle of green trees
as by its cooling influence 1t would more fire.
quently so contract the aerial sponge as to give
US showers at short intervals. This is the case
in forest-clothed, beautiful Britain. The re-
verse is true in stripped Spain, whose peo
pie have become as proverbial for their hatred
OF trees as their country has for serllity OF soil
and sleeping streams. There and on eastward
all through the Orient, relentlessly brilliant
sky and an appalling absence OF verdure will
teach one as nothing else can how beautiful are
clouds that weep, and, in its proper time how
delicious drizzhng rainy day. These defor
ested Eastern lands are as famous for seasons
Of binding storms, and valleys torn by terrible
will soon find their counterpart in all these
characteristics in America, unless we rouse
ourselves with will to understand and to mas
ter these evils. Forests promote streams avail
able for our precious manufacturing interests,
also, by furnishing vast and almost innumer
able beds Of fallen leaves and OF moss, which
act on the earth like huge everything sponge,
to check the sudden rush Of the rainfall into
the valleys and down into the streams. Very
rapidly IN recent years are mournful instances
multiplying in which these manufacturing
streams are transformed by freshets from spir-
its Of blessing-to give homes and food and
clothing TO thousands who live in the hamlets
by turning the machinery which helps them by
their labor to help them selves-to demons OF
destruction. Forests also promote such stead
mess Of flow Of the streams as to make them
sources OF national wealth in giving employ
evaporation OF moisture Probably more than
half the water that falls on a deforested region
in dry season is whisked off by evaporation
just at the time when 1t is most needed to
strengthen the depleted millstreams. The
steam engine, to be of any practical use as
motive power, must have its action controlled
by the conservative influence OF the balance
wheel. Otherwise it's wheels would whirl at
one time with fury which would result only
in destruction, and then they would move too
slowly to be Of service. Thus the forest, by
increasing the frequency OF gentle rains, and
so decreasing the volume and the length or in
tervals between showers, also by regulating
their too sudden plunge into the streams is
the great regulator provided by nature for their
control in the service OF man. All over the
manufacturing portions Of our country we may
find instances where large amounts Of capital
able our once magnificent and almost number
less hydraulic powers. Trusting to what seemed
certainty Of employment for themselves and
their families, thousands OF skilled laborers
have in many cases confdingly made their
homes at point where the stream seemed
abundanty powerful and permanent. Then,
as the summers came and went, the river
seemed to slcken, and grow more and mora
feeble, till there would be week or two each
year in which the spindles and the looms would
be silent. Asstme went on these periods of
idleness have heightened into months, in which
the labor struggle Cor bread and clothing, for
means to pay for the humble little home, or
debts incurred in sickness, was compelled to be
suspended. The cause of all this was that the
sources Of the rivers life had been destroyed
or injured by the ignorance, cupidity, or reck-
lessness OF men who lifted up axes on the
thick trees far up the mountains, where the
mill-streams had their birth.-G WRPowell in