Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1889-02-09
The Nations Forests.

NtUc lot the CONSERVATION OF the Tor
ests on the national domain should
be the withdrawal from sale Of all
forest-lsnds belonging to the nation.
1t viii not be necessary to preserve
and maintain all these forests perma-
nently, but the extent Of forest-terri-
tory which will be reqired by prac-
,ical plan OF misrepresentation and
management for our Western noun
tain regions cannot be at once pre-
cisely determined. A thorough ex
animation of these regions, and of
tae agricultural country depending
upon them for its water supply, will
be necessary, in order to show what
forests must be retained, and what
tracts of timber can be put upon the
market without injury to the impor-
tant interests involved. Until such
an examination has been made, none
OF the forest-l.nds now belonging to
Che United States should be sold.
The second step should be to COM
NIT 20 the United States army the
care and guardianship of the forests
belonging to the nation. There Is in
tDe time of peace no other work of
national defense or protection so i'm
portant as this which The army
ca1 perform, and il is plain that un-
der existing conditions the forests on
The national domain will not be--in.
deed cannot be--adequately guarded
and protected by any other means.
The measures which have been tried,
including those now in operation, or
nominally in operation, have proved
almost entirely ineffective. The for.
ests on the public lands are pillaged
by settlers, and by the employees of
rail- Dad and mining companies, with
out scruple or limit. Other instru-
ments will have to be employed if
the forests are to be preserved
Their complete and final destruction,
with that of the soil which sustains
them, is, under the present system,
only question of time, and ola very
short time.
The officers of the United States
army are educated by the nation for
its service, and they constitute a
body Of men not equaled by any 9th
er in our country in their equipment
for guarding and protecting the great
folest-regions belonging TO the ma
ton. They possess every kind of
fitness for this work in greater de-
gree than any other class of men,
and if authorized by law to under
take this service they would have
the power and the means necessary
for its performance, while everybody
else is at present inevitably power
less and incapable. AS there is like
" to be very little work for the ar
my hereafter in the care of Indians,
it will be available for this service Of
guarding the national forests. The
work can be done well by the army,
and it would cost nothing, or very lit
tie, while any other plan would neces
sarily be both ineffective and costly.
This guardianship and defense of the
nations forests by the army of the ma
ton should be continued and main
tanned until a sufficient number of
adequately trained and equipped
foresters has been provided by the
national government for the admins
tration of a complete and permanent
system and policy for the manage
ment of the forests on the public do
main.
This brings us to consider the third
step. This should be the appoint
ment, by the President, of Com
mission to make thorough examin-
alton of the condition of the forests
belonging to the nation, and of their
relation to the agricultural interests
of the regions through which the
streams flow which have their sourc
es in these forests, and to report,