The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1882-04-14

: increasing with amazing rapidity We
( must work away until we get some good
( practical results towards saving it, I
/ have tried for years in a feeble way to
/ have something definite done to save our
/ forests. but the work is mighty discour-
{ aging. Forests are felled and man
cuts down tree that his own lifetime
! and that Of his children cannot repro
.duce, yet he thinks no more of his act
/ of vandalisrQ than he would if he were
! removing stone, brier or dirt pile.
He does not cut it down because he
needs the fuel or wants the lumber, but
! because 1t is handy. or because he fam
( cles it shades the ground too much or be
/ wants to get a birds nest that is on it,
/ few nuts a squirrel has hid away in it.
a coon Off il. OF some cheStnuts. ANY
excuse in the world serves as sufficient
cause to Justify his act of vandalism.
and the axe IS laid to the root of the
tree without mercy. If these individual
acts Of vandalism were all we had to
/ contend with we might rest easy but
every year great companies with pom
| deTOus mills go to the heart of our for
| ests and fell thousands of trees that
. have been hundreds of years growing.
| One firm alone in western State runs
200 saws No less than 1.O30, ,O0O. 600
feet of lumber were cut in a single year
Z III LIit SttibF Oh w lSCDliSlQ. AT the pre-
sent rate ten OF at most twenty wears
will see the end, and the forests Of Mich
igan. Minnesota and Wisconsin will
have been destroyed. Fifty thousand
acres Of Wisconsin timber are annually
swept away TO supply the Kansas and
Nebraska market alone. New NOrk
has lost her maple, walnut, hickory and
has no big woods left worthy the name
of forest unless it is the AdirOndacks.
In Pennsylvania the forests, except pOr-
tiOns of the Alleghenies. have been des-
trOyed. All the remaining regions have
been bought up by spectators, and the
trees are merely held for a higher mar
ket. The fires and the saw-mill will do
the work and America become a treeless
region.
What difference will it make ? Ask
the careless. y great deal, for with the
destruction of timber goes away much
of the usefulness of the country. Did
you ever see a tTeeless land or have you
| ever read of one If not ask travellers
or read carefully the histories Of the
/ Roman empire, Syria, Persia, Asia Mi
nor aad portions of Italy. All these re-
giOnS were once tImbeTed countries and
richly productive. Now they are hOr-
rible deserts, scanned with ravines and
I gullies, piled with ridges of sand utter
{
| which once covered them. Behold the
naked and barren rocks of Mount Leb-
anon, made famous by the life of ou
| Savior. From these mountains once
came the timber to supply the surround
+ ing countries it has long since disap-
peared and with it its population. 9th
er causes no doubt assisted to desolate
these countries, but says Marsh. ''the
destruction of the forests was the chief
cause of the barrenness." I doubt if
man can exist in any country entirely
/ destitute OF timber. As countries en-
tirely covered with timber are fit only
for savages SO. countries entirely denud.
ed of timber become the abode of wild
beasts and unciviliEed people. Nature
seems to have DESIGNED that there ShO'd
be a happy medium in this respect that
/ we cannot disregard without bringing
on ourselves evil consequences. Either
extreme produces a ike effect-the to-
I tai destruction of forests unliIs a cOun-
/ Try for the, abode of civilized man. while
the clothing OF it in impenetrable for
6Sts does the same. Look at the coun-
try around the Mediterranean sea. once
the most pOpuious in The world. Com
/ pare the description Of ancient writer's
to what is said of it to-day Marsh SAYS
''the vast forests nave disappeared from
I the Mountain spurs and ridges the
vegetable earth accumulated beneath
the trees by the decay of leaves and fall
en- trunks the soil of the alpine pas-
lures which sllirted and indented the
woods and the mold of the upland is
washed away; the meadows once fertiI-
lied by irrigation are waste and unpro-
ductive, because the cisteTns and reser-
voirs that supplied the ancient canals
are broken and the springs that fed them
are dried up; rivers famous in history
and song have Shrunk to humble brook
lets the willows that Orn8mented and
protected the banks Of the lesser water
courses are gone and the rivUlets cease
to exist as perennial currents, because
the little wa Ter that finds its way into
their old channels is evapOrated Ov
drOughts Of summer or absorbed by
parched earth before it reaches the low
lands the beds of the brooks have
widened into broad eXpanses Of sand
and gravel over which. though in the
hot season passed dry-shod in winter.
sea-like torrents thunder the entrance
of navigaale streams are Obstructed by
sand bars and harbOrS once martS of
an extensive commerce are ShOaied by
deposits of the rivers at whose mouths
they lie
In some of the older states the want
of timber is already severely felt. Hills
and mountains once covered with beau
tiful forest are bald and unsightiy. The
streams that once turned the mills to de-
nude those forests are dried up, or
shrUnk away 10 incOnsiderable riyulets.
It cannot be otherwise with our rapidly
increasing millions than that the de-
mand for timber will increase and the
destruction go on rather than diminish.
L see no way but to meet this question
with sturdy laws. In Germany, France
! and some other countries of Europe the
forests are the property of the govern
/ ment. Their management has been re-
duced to a system and they are guarded
with the greatest care from wantOn de-
/ StructiOn. In our own country l doubt
if a like system would work well. The
government of the United States has
never yet protected its forests and
doubt if it ever will. Perhaps the bet
ter plan would be to turn over thelwhole
question of forestry to the several states
and territories of the Union. Timber
| growing on public lands is everywhere
so generally considered a fair game that
possibly the government cannot protect
it. 1t did not or could not protect the
live oak woods of Florida, intended for
the use of the navy it did not protect
it's forests in Michigan, Wisconsin and
Minnesota, and it is not to-day protect
ing it's woods in Montana or Washing
ton territories. The Congress either
does not wish to be bothered with the
subject of forestry or does not care much
about it, If it does not then desire tO