The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1901-04-23
Fin Expensive Bill
From, the Forests

IrONt TIC TOFSSlS
| For The Trbunc
r, HE GREAT fLoop at pttsburs which has
| caused such unbridlcd havoc Is the conse'
| 4 qicncc and cost ci natural causes opcrat'
toward natural consequences. Floods, such
as destroyed three million dollars worth OF prop.
rity in few days, are mainly the sequence to
| 'lIe lumbormans activity. The Allegheny
| mountains and its spurs are being rapidly and
ruthlessly dcnuded of their forests. Tie water.
| sheds Of the Allegheny, the Mononsahela and
| their continent tributaries arc undergoing fh,
process of dcnidation at such a rapid rate that
| it may be assumed shat they, will he AS COM
| rlctcly divestcd OF their primcval forests in
| very few years as icobergs in mid ocean, In the
lumber regions Of Pennsylvania there Is no dis
elimination or conservation. Is all de-
struction, commercial basis, of course,
which makes 1t none the less destruction from Il
climatal standpoint. Modern scientific inquiry
| has shown that at the present rate OF removal
of lumber without rc.forcsting what remains Of
the original aboreal growth of the United states
would be cut down and used UP fifty years.
| The reaction Of sucl, consummation upon Our
climate would be incalcuable and perhaps disas.
trous.
The average lumbernlan OF forests is as
hcdonic as a butcher. The butcher looks upon
a fat OK much beet at much a pound.
| The lnmbcrman looks upon the fairest prospect
of nature, a tree, as SO many cords OF oak. pine,
deal or spruce at much a cubic foot. Its
place in nature, the mechanism Of its growth ITS
correlation to all tina: surrounds it, has no III.
tcrcst ard no meaning for him. To the Indian
the buffalo was an animal TO be slaughtered
| wherever met, four .ftl,s Of the time wantoniy.
| TO the modern woodnan forest is not without
lis speculative ,alueto he measured in dollars
all the time. Destroy our forests and the very
soil upon which they stood disappears with
them. Plants, including trees, live OH carboho
acid gas and oxygen. The first they absorb
from rain; the second from the atmosphere. Freed
earhonic acid is the most crosive agency known
| TO science. Given tine, geological time. tiny
strCanct will erode a canon. The geological
changes end rcadjusinients OF country as well
as its barrcnness fertility ale regulated by its
rainfall, while the rainfall, as in this state, IS
res ulated by its woods and forests. That being
so it is our manifest duty not only Jealousy to
conserve onr forests which not doing.
| hut add TO them, Of which wise Irecept some.
| thing like official recognition is taken on Arbor
Day.
There are many useful and noble associations
| throughout the country for the preservation OF
| orr woods and forests, useful in their practical
| results and noble in their ain But this is not
enough, nor nearly enough. The preservation OF
| our forests is deep national concern. Neither
does the reservation OF forests under government
auspices meet the requirements Of the case. i'm.
| Incnsc their utility is. a matter which
affects Nitaliy every square mile of territory IN
| the United States, not merely for this generation
or the next, but for all time, is momento'is
| in its supremacy all other matters within
the domain OF executive supervision that it is the
1 ....l.X
We have neglected this point too long and arc
reaping the consequences in devastating floods,
immense uncutivatablc tracts OF desert, clim
ate subject to treachcrous notifications year In
and year out, and yet doing less to obviate those
| superccding calamitcs than bcnighted Russia.
| There are more primeva forests and woods in
| the Russian empire than in any other inhabited
country, or country likely to be brought at some
| time under the dominion OF the plough. To the
infinite credit Of the Car and his advisers they
| fully recognize the importance of the forests in
the meteorological and industrial economy OF
| their country and have established strict laws
| for their preservation, with the necessary ma.
| chinery to enforce them. The same may he said
| of India, where the national forests are deemed
| of such importance that they are patrolled by
rangers under scientifically educated officers with
| more circunspccton than the streets of New
York are by its police. No forest brgands are
permitted to lurk in those vast territories. Those
who acquire permission to cut lumber in an
! Indian Russian. forest do so under rcstric-
| tions which are not only advantageous but ncceS
| sary to their highest utilization.
| With us beyond the limits OF tho national rcser.
vatons it is altogether different. Any man
who can show title to tract of forest has
| only to go along until he clears it of the last
! sapng. 1t is not for him to conceive ultimate
| consequences. His philosophy is that he can do
| as he likes with his own, az long as he owns it.
| lie finds a natural Eden and he leaves it wild.
crness II that were the only result of his in
sensate selEshncss it would be bad enough lie
| has deprived the Landscape OF its natural allure
mcnts to almost all living things. But the c.
| fccts OF his rapacity are only duly appreciated
| when n cataclysm such as that which over
| whclmed Pittsburg and its neighborhood on Sat.
ur,lay and Sunday takes place. Trees, as every
| school boy knows. are like sponges. No matter
| how torrential downpour OF rain is, if it falls
| in forest or wood it is Immediately absorbed
| 10 greater or less extent according to the
| botanical character of the place. The trees do
| not absorb all the rain but they drink in
| enough OF it to establish that equilibrium which
nature loves when lett to her own devices. The
| soil upon which trees go is held Arm by their
roots and tibres. The rain that falls upon the
| turb is absorbed slowly but cquitably. The
| thick undcrerowth which carpets the forest
| is also an illimitahle absorbent. When The liv.
| lug tree is cut down, lis understudes so to
| speak--underbrsh, mosses, grasses, fungi
which had formed mat as strongly intricate
| as netted wire and as beautifully symmetrical
| as spiders web, die with it, The site once
| occupied by the forest becomes first a morass,
then landslide and ultimately the reservoir
/ for cataract. II is not necessary to follow
the scientific aspect OF the denudation ri forests
farther. The actual results we observe obcc-
rtiyely are enough upon which TO base political
| aud economic considerations,
| Let us take notorious instance. II was
| believed by the late Professor Marsh that the
| Sahara desert was once covered with more or
| less luXuriant tropical vegetation. The extent
and productiveness of the oases in the saraha
are greatly underestimate, Be that as it may,
| wherever oasis is found, it is unquestionable
| and demonstrate that the roots Of the dcclduous
/ palm or date trees that cover IL tap water not
| far beneath the desert sands. 1t is 4 scientific
| axiom to reason from the known to the I'M
known. II water is to be found in one part OF
| the desert near the surface it is common sense
to assume that it can be found in every part
| Of it, AT a proper depth, The reason, according
| to Professor Marsh, why the desert is a desert
| is that the Cames and goats which are the only
| domestic animals that can accompany the
| bedoun there, browse down sprouting trees
| that the latter 10 live and hence there can
| lao no rainfall there bpinn uo mount aims in