The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-04-04

For some years there has been what.
under present conditions, must be termed
an academic discussion Of forestry. we
say at present. for there is waste of
time and words in trying to convince
the men who have hewn farms out OF
the solid timber or their sons, who have
dismal memories of chopping and logging
and burning, of picking up and clearing
off. that they must now turn about and
plant where they have cut There Is yet
too strong the instinct of the pioneer that
a tree is an enemy, and OF the utilitarian
that the ground occupied by tree might
better be raising grain. We are not COM
mending this disposition, but stating 1t
as a fact that has to be faced in any
discussion of legislation relating to
woods. 1t may be true that the story of
fertile lands turned in Asia into sandy,
deserts through decreasing is to be re-
peated here, but the story will fall on
needless ears.
For some years the Legislatures OF this
~cate were. asked to initiate forest pres
ervation. Several influences backed the
request. There was a small contingent
of persons who firmly believed in the dam
ger which could only be averted by such
action. There were others trying to get
their timber protected at the states ex-
pense, ard it is just possible that strong
desire to secure positions salaried by the
state may have also been more or less of
a force. The efforts failed until they
were reinforced by the horrors of the
Iinckley fire, the result of carelessness
cooperating with extraordinary meteor
illogical conditions In the spasm of that
shock the legislature enacted a forestry
law and created the Office of fire warden
and attached to it a comfortable appro-
priation for salary and expenses. Two
years ago the legislature recovered from
its temporary sentimentalism and re-
pealed the law The then governor We
toed it, not that he had any tender feel
ing for trees for he had been telling them
and making more or less money out of
them all his life, but probably because
he and those whom he represented deem
ed it profitable to themselves to have the
state pay for watching their timber as
we'll as its own and keeping it free from
devastation by fire.
Again the law is assailed, and the house
refuses to accept the report of the COM
mittee recommending the indefinite post
ponement of a bill to repeal the law. 1t
is probable that the house will pass the
bill, and there is no reason to doubt that
the senate will concur Should the bill
progress thus far 1t is probable that It
would receive executive approval for.
In his inaugural message, Gov. Lind de-
voted considerable space to this subject.
and suggested a plan by which the foun-
dations could be laid for efficient work
when conditions were ripe; but he we'll
said that ION this subject, like many 9TH
ers, it is futile to undertake legislation
In advance of well-defined. active public
opinion 1t is useless so long as nine
tenths OF our people would rather-eut.s.
tree than plant one. Time devoted to a
discussion of scientific forestry is USUALLY
wasted As the private interests in the
preservation of timber lands from fire
are so much greater than are those of the
state, it would seem as If the state MIGHT
put its timber under shelter of those in
terests, especially as they are under such
weighty obligations to the state for bane-
fits enjoyed, surreptitiously or other.
wise.