Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1885-01-31
Was - Been Done - rers1lrT.

In assigning the writer q subject for 6
paper 70 be read before this meeting 81
the State Board Of Agriculture
the theme selected for him was, What IS
the present status Of Governmental ef-
fort % promote the interests Of For
estry In the United States, or What has
organized effort accomplished In the
endeaVor 70 encourage toress-Gree plant
ing and TO preserve timber already
grOWing2"
This, considered as one question, or
two affords q very wide field. In fact,
It opens up the discussion Of all that has
been done by the General Government,
by State Associations, by local HOrtieul-
tural and Forestry Associations, and by
individual tree planters in the United
States. have decided to "lump" the
subject so to speak, and allude briefly
and IN q general way TO the nature and
result of all sorts of effort, public and
private, general and local, under the
head, What Has Been Done for For
estry."
Governments, it viii be understood,
originate, discover and invent few things,
and our own is no exception to the rule.
No Government ever discovered the
power Of steam, electricity or new me-
ChanicaI forces. 1t was not a Govern
ment that discovered gunpOWder to
in repairing its damages. 1t is very sell
dom that a regular official of a Govern
ment ever strikes out In a new path, or
develops a fresh idea. The thinking in
this world is done by private, and fre-
quently obscure, men. In time their
ideas become the property of the COM
munity, and lastly they are adopted by
the Government
The United States Government when
established possessed absolutely the most
magnificent forested domain on the face
Of the earth. Even after q century OF
spOliatiOn and waste, as well as legiti-
mate sale and transfer, it is still magnih-
cent. Exactly how large it is isnOt known,
but in 1880 1t was estimated that the
United States owned 100000 acres OF
timber land.
This is a mere fraction of what the
National Government once owned, and
which was parted with, or stripped, burn
ed OrstOlen from, with scarcely thought
of its value.
When it is asked why the General
Government did not long ago establish
= system of protecting its forests, the
answer is easy; it is, that it is not long
since the Government Of the United
States began to encourage anything.
The political theory which became
! dominant within a score of years after
| the adoption Ofthe Constitution, behttled
! the Federal Government. Men debated
whether the General Government had
| the right to do anything; even to i'm
/ prove rivers and harbOrs. The authority
/ of the United States became a shadOWy
uncertainty. Of course under this theory
/ of authority the Federal Government
] could do little toward encouraging any
! thing useful. Had it not been for the
/ arm acting under the war Depart
/ ment it is doubtful if the domain of the
/ United States would ever even have
! been carefully and scientifically ex
! plOred.
All did not see the General Govern
/ ment's doing in the way of encouraging
/ agriculture by the regular dissemination
/ of seeds and cuttings; by the appoint
ment of agents to Investigate natter
affecting the farmer, the stock raiser anC
the OrChardist, all, in short, that comes
! under the supervision OF the UnIteC
! States Commissioner of Agriculture, is
new and modern innovation. There wa
a time when the sending out Of a pack
! age Of garden seeds by authority of tn
Federal Government would have beer
deemed an infringement on the "reserV
ed rights of the States"
The United States for many year
then did nothing to encourage FOrestT,
either IN theory or practice. PrObabI,
he first trees set out under the author
ity of the Federal government Wer
! those in the Capitol grounds at Wash
IngtOn, planted under the supervision O
the first American landscape gar
dener, A. j. DOWNING. Those VIII
! have seen these trees can testif,
that they are not yet very large
u As to the extensive planting of trees OF
he streets and in the public grounds o
q J. IF
! l-5t fifteen years. The general Govern
ulent is q very young forester.
The Department Of Agriculture as
sumed its present shape about tWentl
# years ago; but the Division of FOrestrl
81 as organized not over five years age
and with its organization the interes
Of the Federal Government Ia the pres
u ervatiOn and growth Of forests may b
said to have begun.
AS L said In beginning, government
originate little or nothing, and it was no
until after years of effort on the part o
individuals in different parts Of th
Il country; not until men like DR.. JOIN II
/ WARDER had devoted years to Writin
Il and speaking on the value of forests
that the Government of the UniteC
i States really took hold Of a matter whicl
should have engaged its attention a
4 least a hundred years ago.
The passage OF the Timber Culture &C
was one of the first steps taken by tn
Il Government in recognition of the neces
sity of tree-groWing Oh our Western
prairies There is q WIDE diversity @
opinion as to the practical workings o
that law. For myself I have no hesita
ton in saying that the law has done
great deal directly, and much more ind
Tectly, toward covering with forest tree
n great tracts which would otherwise hav
been left bare to be scorched by the sur
swept by the hot winds, and aid in pei
petuating the reign Of drOuth and grass
hOppeTs in this Western country. i
the first place, many have complied wit
II the terms of the act; and, in the mex
place, the presence, the successful grow
/ ing Of one grove in q region before sup