St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-09-22
gence before these elements Of discord
are driven from our midst.
pKEsERvE THE FoREsTs.

A bill is now before congress. Intro
duced by Minnesota member. designed
to protect the native forests of the West
and to promote by bounties the growth
of forest trees. Much was hoped, some
years ago, from the tree claim law,
which permitted settlers to enter an all
ditional quarter section of land. upon
which they should plant and maintain
growth of trees for a period of FIVE
years. AT the end OF that time they
could prove their claim and would then
be in possession of tract of timber
land of far greater present and pros
pectiye value than any similar area de-
voted to cereal crops. For some reason
the results Of this experiment have
proved disappointing. AT first many
timber claims were made, but the trees
were neglected and died, and thousands
of the claims were permitted to lapse
and revert to the national domain. This
fact twas due in large degree to the i'm
patience of the settlers for immediate
results. The possibilities of the future
did not concern them as much as did the
prospects of immediate gain. The
country, consequently, has not been
greatly benefited, and our forests are
disappearing as rapidly as ever, while
there is no compensation in the growth
OF younger timber.
However desirable it may be to pre-
serve existing forests or to endeayor to
create new ones, it is to be feared that
no dependence can be placed upon in
dividual effort. The state of New York
has solved the problem i'll part by pur-
chasing and caring for the Adirondack
forests, which now constitute the most
beautiful as well as the most extensive
game preserve and timber-producing
park in the world. The trees there
furnish both lumber and fuel for many
industries, but only limited amount
can be cut al any one time, and the
trees that may be hewn down are Sc
lected by the wardenS and superintend-
entS. The game, too, may be hunted
under certain restrictions, but the indis-
criminate slaughter of animals or birds
is punished by the seyereSt penalties.
settlement is restricted, intrusion dis
couraged or prohibited. and the region
maintained as greatpark for the bene-
fit OF the whole people. 1t is not so
with the forests of Minnesota and the
West in general. These valuable tracts,
belonging until recently to the federal
government, have been denuded of their
valuable timber and finally abandoned
as barren wastes. The new timber,
which might in the course of time be
source of immense revenue, is periodi
cally destroyed by forest fires. The
land is practically useless under the
present system. and will remain so until
such time as the general government or
the state of Minnesota shall adopt the
New York plan, or something similar to
it. As Tong as rapacious timber sharks are
permitted to destroy the forests at will
we can hope for nothing, and unless
their rapacity is checked the day is not
far distant when Minnesota will be des-
titute OF forest land, and dependent
upon other regions for lumber, timber
and fuel.
The evil is not to be overcome by any
such measure as that proposed 10y Con-
gresham T awney 1t must be met by
restraining the destruction of timber.
instead of leaving the matter to the vol
untary enterprise of the Individual.