The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1902-06-19


ing Of 100000 acres, and has made or
rangcments for the expenditure O
2o,OO0,00O more 10 complete hc
plan. IL costs for this reforcstine 81.
an acre IN Italy and $50 an acre II
France. Notwithstanding this large
expenditure, it will be half ccntur,
before the full benefit of the reforest
ing can be felt. 1t will be many Gen
cratlons before the soil i'm the woods
will have acquired that quality of alb
sorptl0n and retention of the water
whlchmakes IL both a reservoir and &
protection for the farms below.
| The proposition before us is not tc
reforcst at S2I an acre, as in Italy, OF
at $50 an acre, as in France, but ut a,,
expense of about 81 an acre to preserve
the forests which have been forming
for over thousand years in trees and
soil. Scientific forestry in Germany
France, and Italy gathers an annua!
crop from tho trees which have reach
Ell the point where they are CONNER.
cially valuable and can be cut, not only
without injury to, but, on the con
trary, for the benefit of the whole for
est, of from 81 to IS an acre per ycar
net, after paying ali the expenses of
their care.
There are many villages IN Ger
many which pay all their taxes from
the revenue derived annually from for
ests which they own, while other com
munltles which sold or dcforested their
common lands have poor lands and are
paupelized by their burdens.
Switzerland presents for our noun. .
tain regions remarkable illustration
OF the necessity as well as of the hcnc-
tit of forest culture. The Swiss dis
covered centuries ago that with the de-
iorestlng OF their steep mountain sides
after every rainfall the soil was wash
ed down into the valleys and ran of
III The streams and that their country
was likely to become desert. They
were the pioneers in this industry of
industries. AS eally as the beginning
of 1900 they had complete system of
forest preservation and control. In the
six hundred years of which they have
had the records they have brought their
system to such perfection that the
Swiss forests not only are the saliva
tion of Swiss agriculture, both on the
hlllsldes and in the valleys, but they
yield net to the government IS per
acre year. 1t is a form of revenue
which Is not subject to accidents, but
can be realized upon with absolute GER
tainty under all circumstances. For
csts under such conditions are per-
pctual and increasing mine of wealth
Il
and to the whole people on the other
in their influence upon farms and har-
vests and upon Industries.
While 4G 900, 900 acres of land have
been rescued to the West, there has
been nothing done in the East. The
country had superb property, unique
in every way, unequalled for richness
and rarity and for the value of its
product, in the redwood forests of the
Pacific slope. Through carelessnc
simply Congress yielded to the shrewt
representations Of the speculator, who
under that homestead pea, which is
properly 80 attractive to the American,
secured the enactment Of laws by
which any settler could secure 100
acres in these forests of priceless value.
Then came the harvest of the lumber
men. Each of their employees stakcd
out 100 acres. The sailors upon the
vessels that carried off their lumber
were induced to make claims for their
lGO acres each, and the land was then
to the lumbe: companies,
until, for mere song, this magnil
cont inheritance of the people fell in
% the hands of different corporations
who are mercllessly destroying the
timber.
Negligence of this kind on the part
If Congress becomes almost n crimo.
Those wonderful woods should have |
been preserved, not for spectators and |
bogus settlers, but for the whole peo-
,le of the country. They would, under
'cicntific forest management, have
)een for all time to come not only |
and revenue producing,
hey would have bean more-;hcy |
would have been the source of supplies
'f wood for all purposes for the inhab-
tants of the Pacific coast. They |
would have been additions TO the rural |
scenery, which in every State and
when attractive, helps culture
and civilization. They would have
been the home of game, where sports
men could have found health and
pleasure. But, insteel, the land will
become an arid waste, the streams will
dry up, and the country will lose not
only one of it's best posse essions, but
there will be inflicted incaculablc
damage upon vast region which
otherwise would have remained always
full of happy homes and cultivated
farms.
The Appalachian forest reserve as
in the pending measure is
about $50 miles in lengt hand of varying
breadth. Itis from 400 to 600 feet above
the sea. IL runs through the States
of Virginia, Virginia, North West
and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama,
and Tennessee. The slopes of these
mountains are very steep, varying from
20 at the lowest to 40. The waters
which flow from the perpetual streams,
fed by the perpetual springs, run on
the one side to the Atlantic and on the
other to the Gulf of Mexico. The
streams from this mountain forest are
the tributaries of these important
rivers: The James, the Roanoke, the
,ataWb0 tho Savannah fho N,,,