The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1902-06-18


: rains and floods have washed clean tn
J mountain sides, have left nothing bu
the bare rocks, have reduced his farr
, to desert, and created a ruin whicl
can never be repaired.
But this is not all. That farm ha
gone down with the torrents, whicl
have been formed by the cutting off O
the protecting woods, into the stream
below. 1t has caused them To spreat
over the farms of the valleys ant
plateaus. II has TUNED these peace
iul waters into roaring floods, which
have plowed deep and destrnctiy,
gullles through fertile fields and acros.
grassy plains. One freshet i'm the
Catawba river last spring, occasioned
wholly by the decreasing of the noun
tains, swept awaya million and a hafl
dollars worth of farms, buildings, and
stock. The damage done by the
freshet of last year alone, in the large
territory fed by the streams and rivers
which came from these mountains.
was estimated at over SIS, 100000.
This destruction can not be repeated
many years without turning into a
desert the fairest portion of our coun-
try. This process of destruction is
constantly enlarging because of en-
croachments upon the forests on ac
count of the growing scarcity of hard
wood. Tho lumbermen are running
light railways so as to reach the here
tot IRE inaccessible depths. The giants
OF the mountains, which are four or
live hundred years of age, and many
OF them z feet in diameter and from
l4O to $50 feet high, are falling in in
creasing numbers every month before
the pitiless and ruthless invasion of
the ak and the saw. In ten years the
destruction will be complete, the forests
will be practically gone, the protecting
soil will have been washed of the hill
sides, and the newspapers will be filled
each year with tales of disaster to
populations, to farms, to villages, and
to manufacturing enterprises, OCCASION
ed by unusual and extraordinary rains
and the torrents which have been
formed by them and flowed down
through the valleys.
1t has been estimated that there is
IN these mountain streams 1000 900
horsepower which can be easily utiliz-
ed. This means saving of $40, ,O0O,-
0OO year in coal alone, which would
otherwise have to be used for the gen
Grafton of that amount of power for
manufacturing purposes. But II means
more. This 100000 horsepower that
these streams, which flow equally all
the year round because of the nature
OF the sponge which forms the reser-
voir that supplies them, would create
an incalculable amount of electrical
power. With the successful demon
STATIONS which have been made in
California and Niagara Falls of the
distance to which this energy can be
transmitted, the value of these streams,
kept in their original condition, to the
future of these States can not be
estimated. There are In these ccnli.
tlons all the elements necessary for
transportation, for light and neat, for
manufactures and mining, in a very
large section of the United States.
The proposition in the bill is TO au-
thOrize the Secretary of Agriculture,
at an expense not exceeding SIC, ,OOO,-
600, to purchase 4,00O,OO0 acres of
these forests. They are held nov in
large tracts cf from 1000 to 5000
acres. They are being rapidly bought
up by lumber companies at from I'll so
TO 80 an acre. The owners, a, | am
informed, would much prefer selling to
the government than to individuals or
corporations. The reason is obvious.
1t is estimated by the Department of
Agriculture that within five years the
forests would be self-sustainlng, and
after that source of increasing
revenue for all tim, to come. IL is
impossible Tor the States to undertake
this work. New York, in order to
protect the Hudson and Mohawk, has
been purchasing large domain
tn ough the Adirondack forests which
she proposes adding to every year.
This is possible because the whole
territory is within the limits of the
State of New York. But in the Appa-
lachian region one State can not buy
the forest sources of the streams be-
cause they are in another State. The
State which has the forests can not be
expected TO go to the expense of pro-
tecting them in order to preserve the
streams and agriculture and industries
of adjoining commonwealths.
The government does much in many
ways to create wealth for the people.
Every river and harbor bill carries
with it millions of dollars to create
wealth by dredging harbors, rivers,
aud streams. The irrigation PROPOSE
tions which are always before us and
some of which have passed the Senate
are also for the creation of wealth by
making fertile the lands which have
always lam arid. Here, however, ls a
proposition not for the creation OF
wealth, for its preservation. This is q
scheme not for many local improve
ments like the $70,000,O00 public
buildings bill or the $40, ,000, 900 river
and harbor bill, oi the innumerable
other bills which we pass for localities,
but it is public and beDficent measure
to keep for future generations in many
States and over a large area the prOtluc-
tive energies which nature has stored
for the comfort, the living, and the
happiness of large populations, and for
the wealth Of the whole country.
IT differs from oil other schemes OF
governmental aid IN another way. The
advantages derived by the government
from the Improvement of rivers and
harbOrs is incidental and indirect. The
same is true of irrigation, of public
expenditures of every kind; but In this
broad and bencliccnt scheme the gov
ernment protects its people by enter
inc npOn n buaiueAa imnnaaihla fo,