Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1901-10-24
WHAT OUR NEIGHB0RS SAY.
Joseph Battell Forest Commission In
and of Himself
(From the Montpelier Journol)

In 1880 Joseph Battell represent cd Mddle-
bury in the Legislature. a bin was before
that body for the creation of forestry
commission in which the journal was
greatly interested. In tho House of kei.
rescntatives the foremost supporter OF
the bill was Battell of Middelbury tn
commission was created. but Ike almost
every other similar measure of practical
rsefulness one Legislature has been per
suaded To adopt a succeeding body of 80
Ions has made haste to destroy So The
forestry commission went out of existence.
he destruction of the forests has pursued
the unbroken tenor of it's ravaging way,
with no hand raised and no official word
spoken to arrest the course of the lumber
ana pulp ravagers, and no movement be-
gun to reforcst the millions of barr,
acres tit for nothing else but the primevdl
covering of which they have been ruth
lCssly stripped.
Mr. Battell has constituted himself, on
ms own hook forestry commission. and,
being man of wealth, with the DISPOSE
ton has also the means to give practical
eject to his ideas and purposes respect
ing forest preservation The Register of
-diddlebury. writing of the heights of Yer
mont mountains, says:
The high peak in the town of Warren
very near to the Fayston line. which to-
gether with some 1000 acres adjoining, Mr.
Battell has purchased for park purposes
Tor the benefit Of the citizens of Vermont
and all visitors within her borders, and
named Ellcn's Mountain, is found to be
one of the highest, if not the highest point
on the Green Mountain range
Camefs Hump has also been purchased
by Mr.. Battel in order to preserve its
forest. We believe all NermontcrS will he
interested in these attempts of native
Normonter to preserve a sample of tic
original forests from which Vermont de-
rived her name.
a m for u no h,i Af
the Green Mountain peaks. to witch the
Register article is chiefly devoted, ana to
which the Free Press makes reply. The
principal thing is the consideration the
Register mentions last, the preservation Of
the forests primeval which gave the State
Its historic name. Mr.. Battel Is doing On
a generous scale what the Stato ought 10
be doing, ought to have been doing for u
generation and more past, throughout All
its borders.
Last winter the newspapers We're pub
fishing the facts of the purchase of sew
eral hundred square miles of forest region,
dotted with ponds and lined with brooks
TO be stripped for pulp cord wood and
lumber. Recently the facts of another
similar purchase, for a like purpose. ha e
been published with some eclat as an IN
dlcation of enterprise in Vermont.
Everywhere, up among the hills at the
foot of mountain spurs. where a waite"
power does not exist the portable steam
saw mill has been set up, and these moro
extensive operations the press is recount
ing in the way of decreasing the state
are supplemented by these smaller, nut
in the aggregate more mischevious, instru-
mentalities for making and preserving the
desert area of the State.
Mr.. Battcll Is a man of another STAMP.
buying large tracts of mountain forest
reggie ms to keep them out OF tho hands nf
the pulp and lumber vandals The only
present hope of Vermont in the matter
of forest preservation is in men like Mr.
Battell. Now if he will go a step further
take in some devastated tract, rocky
ridges. brake and brier infested and WON
out pastures, and show what can be
done in the way of reforesting them r.
turning them to value and usefulness ne
Will complete this circuit of public berc-
faction and become to Vermont what i3rc-
montier was to France.
THE CASE OF LIEUT. GOV. ALLEN.
From the Mortified Ncws)
referring to the Lieut.-Gov. Allen case
the Bellows Falls Times well says:
Guilty or not guilty the lieutcnant-gov-
crnor ought not to be arraigned I'm couit
on a criminal charge. The public has
heard enough 10 be convinced that Mr.
Allen WAS at least grossly negligent in
his relations with the wrecked Nergennes
bank. II h. conducts all his busine So IN
the same haphaZard way, the wonder is
that he is solvent The entire State hopes
that Mr.. Allen will prove that he is al
innocent man. and there Is a gene raj inn
preston that he will. But granted that
he, Mr.. Allen, can and does prove his in
noccnce, it would be much more fitting
ii he appeared before the jury as a phi
waite citizen and not as the lieutenant-gol-
ernor of the State.
\ good number Of Vermont newspapers,
Ink and regrotting the fact that Mr.. Al
lon still insists upon holding on to the Of
hCc of Ecutenant- governor and dragging
It into a more or less sesational case In
Which he must stand trial on Grimm Il
charge. It Is simply a waste of time ana
space, for Mr., Allen will hang to the Of
ice to the end The Lyndonville journal
by the way, makes a good point in the
discussion when it says: We can hardly
blame him for not wishing to resign.
knowing, as he must know, that he viii
not he candidate for office again for !
long long time Whatever may be tLe
outcome of Mr.. Aliens trial for completely
in tho Vorgennos bank wreck, and We al
surely hope that he may prove himself IN
nCCent Of the serious charges, it ought TO
he a suggestion to the republican party
to exercise more care in the selection of
men IT, All the office of lieut. enant- govern
or The position il really an important one
becauSo the incumbent may be called Up
on at any time to assume eraver RESPONSE
blticS. II ought at no time to be Civ
rs a reward for long and faithful party
work. \ safe rule would be to place no
man in this office whom the voters would
not as readily elect to the gOvernorshiD
Itself If the standard was once rails 4
to this point there would be no trouble il.
filing the office with men of really eX-
ccllent ability.
| THE VERMONT BAR AND YALE.