The record-union., 1899-07-03
SHOWING OF

istration The evils attendant upon
State administration of these problems
are indicated in the case of the swamp
and overlooked lands granted to this
State by the Arkansas Act of 1So0
| the history of which is replete With
Encouragement and fraud. To insure
| the most efficient management and the
| eradication or correction of the pres
| emit evils with their certain results, a
| further remove from political influence
| is necessary than is likely under either
mode or control. To some conservative
! body, constitutionally stable and be-
yond the reach of political influence,
must these vital interests be intrust-
| ed. The nearest to this ideal is the
Board of Regents of our State Univer-
sity To their hands is intrusted the
more important duty of directing the
higher education of the youth of our
State, and to them may be intrusted
the care of our forests, particularly
since the care and extension of for
ests and the conservation of water at
ford some of the best means of prac-
tically teaching and enforcing the
broadcast principles of economics. In
the great problems of forest preserva-
ton and extension lie some of the
grandest applications of science, par
ticularly of that branch of science
the object of which is .'the utilization
of the materials than those connect
ed with replacing and conserving the
forests, for these problems vitality af-
feet the ultimate development of every
industry of our State, and, under our
peculiar climatic. conditions, will for
the remotest future determine the
metes and bounds of the civilization
which we are striving to establish.
We have but to ask what has fol-
lowed the devastation of the forests
of Lebanon, of the Caucasus, of the
Atlas. of the Apennines and of the Ply
renees, to answer with certainty the
questions; what will follow the devas-
tation of the forests of the Coast
Range and of the Sierras. History and
nature record no law more inflexible, no
el1ect more certain, than that poverty
and degradation follow upon the de-
struction of the mountain forests
Could this lesson be fully impressed
upon our youth-upon the statesmen
of the future-there Is no effort they
would not willingly put forth to check
the destructive agencies now in force.
The revenues which these public lands
and reservations can, without damage.
be made to yield can be made ade-
quate to inaugurate systematic fores-
try without calling upon either State
or national funds. except sufficient to
start the work. 1t requires the unit
ing of all interests, and the execution
of the plan upon broad lines for the
benefit of the great commonwealth,
the State of California
THE REMEDY SUGGESTED FOR
CALIFORNIA.
The writer, therefore, advocates that
all forest reservations and public lands
upon mountain slopes, within the Dor
ders of the State, be granted by Act
of Congress to the University of Cali
fornia in trust; that the object of this
trust be: To protect, maintain, devel-
op and extend the water supply of
these areas forever. For this purpose.
that the Regents be empowered to
lease, under proper control, the tim
ber-cutting and pasturage privileges Of
these areas, and to use this fund:
First-To protect the catchment
areas.
Second--To maintain college Of
practical forestry.
Third-To construct reservoirs at
such points as may be necessary to the
| industries of the State, and dispose of
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