Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-07-03
The FORESTRY QUESTION.


A contemporary suggests that the For
estry Commission is useless body, and
that the people so regard it. This is dog
matte. No one has license to speak for the
people in this way. The people have not
manifested that they entertain that senti-
ment. Nothing is more common or un-
warranted than the shout the people de-
mand this, or that; the people condemn
this, or that" when the people have in no
manner made their thought or desire in
the matter known. The truth is that all
the assumptions of law and logic and sense
are, and must be, that the people approve
the existence of the Commission, since the
representatives of the people, composing
of government, created it and defined its
duties. In the discharge of those duties,
and in obedience to the mandate of the
people, the Commission has sought for GER
tain information Of citizens, and has asked
all persons possessed Of certain knowledge
to advise the Commission in certain mat
tiers of fact, that it may report back to the
Legislature the collected truth concerning
our forests, whether they are in danger Of
extinction :; whether the laws against TIM
Der destruction can be enforced what is
the reason, if they cannot, etc 1t will
cost no citizen more than the price of a
postage stamp or sheet of paper, to give
information he may possess on the subject
TO the Commission, and the testimony thus
accumulated can do no one, save wrong
doors, any harm whatever. It would
Justify the suspicion possibly, that
some disguised interest is to be conserved
when continuous assaults are made upon a
Commission which is only advisory, has no
power to do aught but gather information
for the Legislature, and to lay bare
the truth regarding the denudation
of our hills. and the effect, if any, upon
rainfall, agriculture temperature, public
health, overflow Of rivers, etc. 1t is OBJ
iected that the Commission furnishes fat
salary to a Secretary 1t is the law, and he
viii draw it until The next Legislature
meets, and in the meantime in the name
of all reason let us get all the good we can
gu. OF the Commission he seryes-all we
can for the money expended. So we say
again to the people, as we did last week,
respond to the appeal of the Commission,
and let us not Judge the tree until it is in
fruiting time. We shall know presently
what progress and good the Board has
accomplished, and in the meantime let us
not purposely cripple it. The forestry
question is broad and deeply important
one. 1t had not been officially approached
in this State until this Commission was
named 1t was the first step taken and is
better than none, though it is but an
advisory Board. The idea that there is no
information to be given to the Board that
ii may not CLEAN from the newspapers, is
simply absurd Newspaper information is
very general, in nearly all cases. 1t seldom
is specific on subjects involving scientific
data. 1t more rarely is exhaustive, and
for the examination of a great economic
subject, no man would trust to search
through the press Of the country for hi:
facts. If he meant business" he would
go 10 work as has this Commission to gather
the facts for himself-though he might be
more energetic and prompt-and report
to the authority over him, what he had
learned and the source from which he OBJ
tanned his information. The United State:
Government in 1875 appointed Commi
sioner, Franklin B. Hough, to examine
into this forestry question, in ar
advisory character, and he sci
about it, we assume as has the
California Commission, to gather the facts
to examine into the experience and prac,
tice of other countries, to study the mete
orology of the question, and then to apply
ito the people generally for any informa-
ton they possessed on the subject. Hi
report shows that he adopted some sucf
methods. 1t was exhaustive, and is to-day
much sought for, and very difficult to ind
because of its high value As far back a.
1887 Massachusetts, began her investiga
ton, and had Commission that published
a report in 1916, that to-day stands as high
authority. The statistics of the timber
lands of New York were gathered in 1870
and since then scarcely any local subject
has more engrossed the attention of the
people of New York than the preservation