Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1902-01-16
Preservation of Forests.

promptly advised of the nature of these
publications. and the adoption of a system
similar to that in use by the general gov
eminent should be provided.
Preservation of Forests.
The preservation of the forests of our
state and especially the prevention of
their destruction by fire urgently calls for
some action on your part. Year after year
widely spread fires bring ruin to large
tracts of land and wipe out that which
can only be restored If at all after lapse
of many years. Outlines areas embracing
upward of 100000 acres are subject to
the ravages of this destructive agency.
Homes have been ruined, families impov-
erished and villages threatened. To sparks
and hot Goals showered forth by locomo-
tives most of these fires owe their origin.
Some, however, are incendiary while 9TH
ers may be attributed to accident or care
lessness. Each year the destruction is
great. Standing timber is greatly dam
aged, often utterly ruined, and the young
growth of the forest is invariably destroy
ed. The forest floor" on which depends
the reproduction or increase in timber
growth. is nearly or quite ruined, and the
soil wherein the forest stood, denuded and
impoverished, becomes in time a barren
waste. The ruin and loss which follows in
the wake of these fires is farreaching. The
charred and shortened stems, mute wit
nesses of the fires destructive fury, are
sure signs of the general impoverishment
of the region surrounding that where once
the forest stood.
No accurate estimate of the money loss
that results can be made, but it is safe to
say that it often exceeds the sum of SO
for each acre burned. Protect that region
Of the state most subject to these fires.
and you will annually save from loss
property valued at thousands of dollars.
How great as source of wealth are these
forests may be inferred from the conserv-
alive estimate that $125.0O0 represents the
annual increment of value to the pine belt
Of southern New Jersey not annually
burned over.
urge promptness of action. The destruc-
ton of the timber and forest products is
not the only resulting loss. Hygienic rea-
sons call for the preservation of the forest
cover, especially in those regions which
will soon become the gathering grounds of
water for the cities of our state. Forest
streams are peculiarly pure. They furnish
an excellent water supply. They carry lit
tie mud and silt in suspension and are
free from defilements of habitations. They
are eQuable in flow and are not subject to
dangerous floods or affected by seasons of
drought. That day will soon come when
the water supplies of this pine belt will be
needed for the seacoast cities and interior
towns.
In another aspect, too the preservation
of the forests, especially in southern Jer-
sey. is important. They ameliorate the
rigors of the winter climate of our great
health resorts and invite the stranger to
dwell among us. If these burnings are not
prevented, the forest cover will in time be
destroyed and the pine region completely
changed. If further ravages be not stop
ped, that portion of the state-a no mean
portion, well adapted for the dwelling
place of thousands-will surely become a
dreary stretch of shifting sands, unfit for
habitation, where summers scorching
heat will be undated and winters cold
blasts will have full sweep 1t is well
known to those who have within their life
time seen the conditions wrought by these
devastating fires that the change predict
ed has already commenced in portions Of
our state.
Some system of forest protection must
be substituted for the unsatisfactory one
now in force. It should be a system under
state control in order to be effective. Ex-
perience clearly demonstrates that indi-
vidual owners cannot or will not cope with
the evil. The adoption of such a system
will under proper management render ca
pable of yielding great revenues vast for
est tracts which are now practically val
ueieSS, prevent IdTBG AREAS VI OuT Sldco
from becoming sandy deserts and pre-
serve an important source of water supply
now threatened with serious impairment
or total destruction.
The legislature at it's last session au-
thorized the governor to appoint a COM
mission of three persons to revise and cod
ify the general statutes of the state which
had not heretofore been revised and codi-
fed by the various special commissions,
he re nf xUh6 To 0r ho We oil dy
been placed before the legislature and
have been enacted into statutes.
Pursuant to the authority SO vested in
me- appointed the Hon. Jonathan Dixon,
the Hon. J. Franklin Fort and the Hon.
Charles L. Corbin as such commission,
and they Immediately entered upon the la
bors of their office. They will be prepared,
in accordance with the provisions of the
act, to submit several bills prepared by
them, together with such suggestions as
they may deem expedient The high char
acter of the gentlemen named is sufti-
cient guarantee of the work performed by
them and 1t is due to them that their rec
concentrations should receive your prompt
and favorable consideration.
The Sewerage Question.
Repeated reference has been made in
messages of the governors who have pre-
ceded me and also in my own communica-
tons to the Importance of providing a
common system of sewerage for the mu-
situated in the valley of the
Passaic river. Efforts were made at the
last session to secure legislation whereby
the needed remedy might be secured. Ow-
ing to a lack of full knowledge of existing
conditions and the want of expert opinion
as to the best methods to be pursued the
measures which were introduced failed to
meet with the approval of both houses.
Urgent application was made on behalf of
the municipality of Newark to summon
the legislature in extra session for the
purpose of considering and adopting if
possible the much needed remedial meas
ures.
After careful and thorough study of
the possibilities of securing such enact
ment I was reluctantly obliged to decline
to accede to such request, fully believing
that nothing could be accomplished be-
cause of the wide difference of opinion as
to the proper course to pursue. 1t seemed
to me better first to procure facts and sta
tistics based upon careful surveys which
would furnish the ground whereon to base
intelligent and harmonious action. To OBJ
tain such information l placed at the dis
posal of the state sewerage commission
sum not to exceed $S,000 payable out of
the emergency fund.- and requested them
to use so much thereof as they might find
necessary in causing to be made surveys
of the valley and in procuring the opin-
ions of expert engineers upon the prob
lens presented.
Upon the assurance of this aid the COM
mission Immediately entered upon the
work, and in their thorough and exhaus-
tive report to be laid before you there are
presented the views of the consulting en-
gineers employed by them. AS result of
their investigation and study they are pre-
pared to recommend one of two plans, Ell
Their of which can be adopted with all rea-
sonable assurance that the desired end
can be obtained.
The refusal of the executive to call an
extra session subjected him at the time tc
immediate action and caused disappoint-
ment to every citizen who realized the ur-
gent necessity of the case, but the wisdom
of delay, except to captious critics is now
For the first time the legis-
lature can act with full confidence and
adopt without fear some measure under
which this urgent work can at once be be-
gun.
Two plans are presented in the report of
the commission based upon the findings
and conclusions of the experts-one the
of a trunk sewer, the cost
whereof would be borne by the interested
communities according to the benefits re-
ceived; the other, the building of disposal
works on the Newark meadows, involving
a greater first cost for construction and
requiring annually much more for mainte-
nance and operation.
1t is clear that there can be satisfac-
tory disposal Of the sewage. The neoessi-
ty for relief is imperative, and you ought
at once provide the means for so doing.
a state sewage commission or a