New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-09-03
THE UEV1CE or TREELESSNESS.

| ministries is cause for satisfaction To be able
| 10 say that exports of some leading commodity
| are now - per cent greater than Il year ago
and 100 per cent greater than ten years a%"
| Is highly gratifying Yet exceptions TO the RUE
are quite conceivable II II should appear That
| the growth Of trade in any important product
WIS tending to exhaustion of native resources
| and consequent domestic embarrassment ana
Disaster the circumstance would give riS" Ia
apprehension rather than pleasure. ana eco
nomical wisdom would suggest the direction OF
efforts toward the restriction of that Industry
or toward such modification of II aS would
| avoid the evil results Threatened
That is the case az present with the lumber
trade II is a legitimate and important indus
fry and one that should be 80 cherished as To
| insure its profitable permanency. But 1t Is
now growing at a rate which threatens In the
near future its own sef-exhaustion and III"
reduction OF this country 10 the deplorG Die ana
ruiuous state Of treelesSness. The facts can
not be concealed and should not be ignored.
Throughout all the older States OF the Union
forests have long since practically disappeared.
Only a few struggling and stunted remnants
remain OF the superb sylvan growth that once
clothed every hillside The effect is apparent.
Streams that once flowed constantly the year
around are now OVERLOOKING torrents for Il few
weeks and dry for months. Springs have dried
ND soil has become arid and sterile. brouihs
are more frequent Agriculture is less protita-
bic The evils that afct The trceless countries
If the Old World are beginning 10 be felt.
Nor are the newer States of the Far West cN-
empt. Their abundant forests are disappear
NO Ike snow in spriugtlmr. and IN their plac"
are coming changes Of climate disturbances
Of the water supply and the whole train %
evils that forest-destruc'ion inevitably entails.
II is idle TO point 10 the vast expanscs OF
untouched woodland that still remain. and
boast that they are ineXhaustihle. They are
not lnpxhauSiible On the contrary. the time
when they will all have been destroyed IL now
within measurable distance. II IS easily within
the lifetime of men now living. This year. rs
already stated our exports Of lumber are about
- per cent greater than last year and 100 per
cent greater than ten years ago Even n the
Present rate Of emitting thc forests would not
last long But at such an increasing rate their
disappearance is starflngy close NJ hand. Nor
is that all The figures cited are only those Of
exports Domestic consumption IS increasing
still more rapidly. The single item Of wood
pulp for paper manufacture means an cnor-
q generation ago
The lumber industry cannot. Of course, be
abolished 1rcc-cutting must continue. Bui
IL is high time such regulations were adopted
and rlgidly enforced as will prevent the utter
destruction Of forests That is entirely posi-
bic Not thc mere amount Of lumber cut. but
the amount destroyed, wasted by careless and
injudicious methods. is what most counts.
Every one VINO has visited a great lumber
camp knows that mora material Is destroyed
than Is sent to market. The smaller trees, not
large enough for marketable timber, are re-
garded as mere membranes. to he sashed
and burned and got out Of the way in what
ever fashion may be rcadicst The ground
Is thus entirely cleared. The great beds OF
moss and leaf-mould. hitherto perennial rc-cr-
vors Of moisture. are dried mp. The soil and
rocks are exposed. and the country trans
formed into desert. What should bc done
IS evident. The small trees should be care
fully preserved, so that they may in turn grow
to full size. and meantime shade the ground
and preserve the forest conditions. Lumber
Ing should in brief, mean judicons thinning
ont, not a wholesale destruction of the forest
Tree planting should also be practScd on an
extensive scale. forest fires lac more scrupu-
lousy guarded against. and the woodland area
Of the country be Systematically cultivated, in
stead Of ruthlessly raided. Other nations neg
lectcd the lesson long. but have learned it at
last. and now enforce il with sirc'ncss that
here might seem despoiic. But this Nation is
bound TO come. sooner or later. to some such
system OF forest conservation. and il will 10
fortunate II it does not reach 1t through the
ruinOus experience Of ,reelcssncss