The Big Stone Gap post. [volume] (Big Stone Gap, Wise County, Va.) 1892-1928, 1893-03-23

I
appreciate the chief of these advant
iages, namely. that the forest-coye
ing of the surrounding peaks, judici
ously preserved and managed, is ca
; pable OF yielding an annual crop IA
exceeding in value the output Of thu
mines.
Legislation, either state or nation
Ial, cannot preserve these grand ant
Valuable forests. 1t can only b.
done by the enlightened selfshncs'
of the owners of the soil. \ cam
paign of education is needed. A
/! good beginning for this would be the
formation of a forestry association
at Big Stone Gap.
! Right here the inquiry is pertinent
whether the development of mines
Land the manufacture of iron by the
aid Of foreign capital cnriches or i'm
poverishes country.
This brings us to the second.branch
of our subject-Finance.
! There is no law to prevent man
from doing what he please with his
own property.
| If the goose which lays him the
golden egg be his goose, he may kill
it if he chooses.
If John Doe needs ready money,
or thinks he docs, and the primeval
forest upon The mountain,top be his,
why should he not hcw it down and
send it to market, even though the
farm of Richard Roe, in the valley,
be ruined by the operation?
If Richard Roe has coal or iron, or
other minerals upon his property,
what good does it do him, or the
world at large if it cannot be mined
| and brought to market?
John Doe has killed his goose, and
it lays him no more eggs.
Richard Roe, for capital to develop
his mines gives their great income in
pcrpctuity to strangers. He squan-
dcrs. for temporary gain, the herit-
age of his children.
Both John Doe and Richard Roe,
| like Esau of old, have sold their
birthrights for a mess Of potage.
Was there no other way for John
and Richard to get money for present
needs, and yet preserve their forests
and develop their mines ?
Under our present financial system
it seems not. Our national currency
| is the soundcst and safest that could
be devised. The debentures of the
nation arc not only pledged, but de-
posted in the treasury for its re-
demption.
But it lacks the essential qualities
| of fexibility. 1t has tendency to
accumulate at certain points, and to
flow in certain channels that do not
lead to towards John Doe and Rich
ard Roe They have to seek it where
it is boarded, and submit to the
hard conditions imposed by its GUS
todians. This is why they have to
sacrifice. the one his ancestral woods
and the other the usurfruct of his
mines. Stupcndous usury
But this intcxible national curren-
CIV is about to go out of existence, for
the reason that the bonds upon which
it is based will soon mature and be
taken up. Some other system OF
, currency will have to be substituted.
Will Congress repeal the tax upon
the notes of state banks, thus per-
hitting them to furnish us with a
flexible or elastic currency? State
bank currency is not local curren-
cy (which is objectionablc), but its
expansions and contractions arc To-
cal, so that a plethorc or stringency
in one section does not affect the
whole country
With a national banking law
compelling state banks to keep their
notes at par with specie, and to pro
tect the note-holders by depositine
securities either in the national or
state treasury, Congress meanwhile
maintaining the paraty of gold and
silver, the currency problem would
be satisfactorily settled.
Homo companies, aided by the
state banks, could develop the re