New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-09-17
DROI-TUS AND FOREST DESTRUCTION.
NEED or FORESTRY REGULATIONS TO SAVE THE
WATER SUPPLY AND THE TIMBER OF

WATER SUPPLY AND THE TIMBER OF
THIS COUNTRY
To the Editor Of The Tribune.
Sir. As The present year Of disaster mas sho""'
scarcely anything Is of ouch importance 10 the ma
eraI wei being Of nation ana iAueeu' " '''e M
Of It's inhabitants as the weather. YET strange d.
T. may SEEM While no human power can p'e'e"'
euch catastrophes as the cyclone tha' ueN'''' W
"a, Islands I. is quite within our power 70 make
- -. ,a, ,,uch worse than 1t need be, and we are
,o,, exnerienclng the results OF our own eHortS III
al, dirac.ion The abnormal heat. as MI Dun"
noinf.l out In his July weather report mas oe.
r,rtv due 70 lack OF rain, and 1t mas peer t"'S az
normal heat end Abnormal drouth COMBINED VIM"
have wrought much h1vcc IN one part Va ~
.,,rv "a ,he crea, floods OF last spring wrought
IN another - -, .,o
81. nc exnerts have been pointing out for the
lac. ,,enr, voors in vain It is just these Alternating
eooda and drouth5 which inevitably loho" ma
,hosealo destruction Of forests practsed III fIe''
far tae last haf-century. We may poas, Vi ou,
Freedom and progress much as we nke' p''
neither freedom nor progress ever yet maze water
rim IN hill and II persis'ently refuse 10 '"''
issor FRAN those nations which have been ru'hsu
oericultura!:v by pursuing the same career OF S''''
ton we shall simply repeat this years experience
adj minimum. When friend wrote me "e'hS as
th,, the Connecticut was already 50 10" INA. q"
strong man could cross Il In places VA siIent
r.F .f.s Of
t,aitnn ~ Harvard saw that the classical rNcra vi
Crnere sung by Homer, were !nud -h0l,', III aross
d,,e beans i'm summer that man Could reap a"lo
tfter that one IL not surprised 10 edi" u III "7'
cultural ruin Of Greece ,o ,,,,,o Ap,erIca
Tut Inost European nations have. unlike Ahe, ~"
learned tho lesson and protect ther fores's. az w.
do our manufactures Even itussia M, H. a,d is
slcr semi ba rbarOuS. has iallen mo M .a 90
NOT waiting as are, ill ii IS 100 Iate 70 -
what alone save the land; Hern'd any p.s,e-, 81
forests If she has not enough and her sySte';i u
fnresry ls az thorough as our system OF III L.
while that exercised by Englond IN ner l''aI, l
hire Is familiar to all readers OF hlplIhs "a ~
and Italy show the same sagaclty III tr,o.~
true interests Of the country, that-ln ny ~ ~
rase m least-was being ruined as ours II, " w.
ioss ~ the Il rests Austria and Hungary Iounu
that lust the same conditions as mere VIZ VI .hn,-
tmer aItnrnnto drouths and floods ara ShoWru tncII
roa patrioilsm by deciding at once thal no man IT,
90, Of men had a RICH TO ruin the country ny
fact that a man owns his house anu p V is a.
thev are not Insured is no reason why ne ~ al,
loved 70 set them on fire; and in the same WA; ~
man allowed-in those truly iaVoisu
absolutely 70 strip OF trees all the aili ne pos
since that would inevitably entai inc lnJuar w.,
bts n.ighbors which no Individual or company mas
a. an Interesting article IN The North American
Review a couple of years ago pointed out a. IN
rresenf rate OF destruction. we snail De oDistu -,
night years from to-day to plant artihcai iot.sts
(and i'm America they are or $40" anu 49, ",
cr,v,h, ar make artificial lakes In order t. insure
the water supply Of our great cities. Nothing pug
traes can give proper balance of neat alu Co':
r,ins and dry Yea her They are the prot"ctloh Oh
a country and nothing but dcvoung as Wuch at
tentiou TO their pr, servaton as European fia'ions
nrovcnt us from the wholesale destruction OF IRE
and property which the whole country no" uIt,es
doplore. o "
Charlton, Mass. Sept II. 1894