New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1901-10-01
DISCRETION NEEDED IN INDUSTRY.

DISCRETION NEEDED IN INDUSTRY.
The imposing statement is made by the Cen
sus Bureau that the paper and wood pulp indus
try of the United States now has capitalization
of more than S167, 100000 which means a gain
Of more than So per cent in ten years. The yearly
value of the output is more than $12T 100000. a
gain of more than 81 per cent Nearly fifty
thousand men are employed, with yearly pay
roll of more than S20,000,000. These are large
figures. They show this to be one of the major
industries OF the country And when we con-
slider the reduction in cost of printing paper
which the development of it has effected. and
the consequent cheapening and greater extern
sion of book and periodical literature it becomes
difficult to estimate without an appearance Of
exaggeration the full bearing of this industry
upon civilization and the progress of mankind.
At the same time from various parts of the
country come reports of ruinous deforestation.
There have been sad ravages in the great North
Woods of our own State. The seemingly almost
ineXhaustible forests Of Maine are likewise suf-
fering. Nearly one-fifth Of the whole industry
has its seat there, and the inroads upon the
spruce forests great that men now
counting the years which, at the present rate,
will suffice to compass the total destruction of
those matches woodlands. The same rule holds
good elsewhere. Wherever there are spruce
forests there are pulp mills. and the steadily
increasing activity of the latter is swiftly ami
hlating the former. The result is that the
States are at an ominous rate losing those very
woodlands which are of most value and impor-
lance for conserving and regulating the water
supply of the rivers.
What it means 10 country to become treeless
is readily to be perceived from the examples of
dead and dying nations. Persia, Syria and
Spain and vast tracts of India are lessons
which the world should read and understand.
1t might be extravagant TO say that their
decline and fall were due to the destruction of
their forests. Yet he would be a superficial
student who did not some intimate and vital
connection between the two processes. We may
not go far does the Greek Church, which
communicates the man who destroys a tree
without planting another in its place. Yet
morally such a man is deserving of reproach
in the name of the welfare of humanity The
great paper making industry is not to be
checked crippled To do that would be a
great evil. But neither is the land TO be
deforested. That would likewise be great
and fatal evil
Happily it Is not necessary to choose between
these two evils A discreet and prudent econ
omy would make il possible to supply the mills
without exhausting the forests. Such discretion
is what is supremacy needed 1t is dictated by
ordinary business interests. But if such dlcta-
ton is not needed it should be emphasized with
the strong compulsion of the law. There are
few countries better supplied with forests than
this or than this was. There is probably not
one in which the products of the forests are
more freely used. There is certainly not one in
the civilized world in which tree cutting is
more recklessly and wastefully practised and
IN which the principles of forest conservation,
culture and renewal are more foolishly and
wickedly ignored and violated. 1t is time to
call a halt in such work, and henceforth to
have discretion go hand in hand with enterprise