The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-05-25
A nm RyRcU.

| HTME G1xBCH.
 One of the most interestlag and timely speeches recently madc in Consress vas delivered by Hon. William Ellictt of South Carolina, on the sub1cct of prescrv- ing the Appalachian forest. The bill, it will be remembered, provides that the Secretary of Agriculture shall purchase land suitable for forest reserve in the States of Virginia, West Virginia. North and South Carolina. Georgia. Alabama and Tennessee-in, any or all of them. and not to exceed four million acres. which shall be set apart ard controlled as a forest reserve for all future time.
 This is rot mere matter of sentiment, by any means. True. it will preserve for the pleasure and benefit of future gen. erations one of the finest arboreal regions of the United States. and in which can be found almost every kind of tree and plant that grows on the continent It is a region of most beautiful views, of every variety of climate. and with as fine water as there is in the world It would form one of the most magnificent and popular pleasure resorts in the world, and would enable those who inhabit our country in the far distant future to form proper conception of primitive American for ests.
 But this Is only the sentimental side of the question. The practical side lies in the demand that the water courses and the agricultural regions shall be protected and preserved. It is demonstrated and >UeIl-e ests bifshed fact that clearing away
 Sforssts in all hilly and mountainous s<causes excessive floods during the
 keasons and excessive drouth in the E er. When the land is entirely clear Ees t1ses and undergrowth, the heavy run onf the cleared land rapidly. floods which are disastrous to the 7 Taking the catawba River as an
 tion Mir. Elliott quotes the follow rom recent issue of ''Fosectry and fMaspn:"
 yGeharacteristics of the Catawba Riv- CT Moods have undergone sudden and alarming change. In previous years all floods along the river rose slowly. The water stagnated like mill pond over the bottom lands. and. gently recedins, left q deep, rich deposit on the already fertile bottoms The hoods have changed, there- ! fore from an agency of good to the farm CTS to one of absolute destruction-a quick, tumultuous rise of waters and | swiftly rushing current that tears up the soif down b the rocks and hard clay and | leaves bafren waste. This extraordinary and depiorabie change fin the characteris- | tics of the flood has followed the laying waste in recent years of thousands or acres of woodland In the western part of l the State.
 What has occurred to the rice fields of Carolina from the floods of the Catawba will happen to the agricultural regions bordering on oil the other rivers which I rise in that region. Like causes produce | like effects, and the clearing away of the forests in which the rivers of the Stste named have their source will re- suit in ruined farms in all the bottom lands through which the rivers run. Another point to be considered is the | was time when 1t looked as If steam would entirely eupercede water as a pow CT producer, but the discoveries and inn provementS in electric power has changed all that It has been demonstrated be- yond cavil that electric currents gener- almost beyond limit, and that it is dess tined to form the cheapest and most avail | able motive power known. The Secretary of Agriculture estimates that the power capable of being furnished by the James, Roanoke, Yadkin, Catawba. Broad, Sa- luda. Savannah, Chattahoochee and Coosa Rivers is, in round number. 736,o00 horse power, of which he estimates that not more than 52, 900 Is now in actual use. and he puts the total available force included in the rivers and other streams having their sources in the region in question at not less than one million horsepower.
 How this water power is injured is plain. The denudation of the land causes heavy floods and uncomfortable streams in the wet season. and the same cause produces drouths and diminished or dried up streams in summer. Thus the same it is an injury and an evil which will in- crease as the years go by and work in- calculabie harm to future generations up- less the remedy Is applied in the form of the project under consideration. /
 We have only briefly alluded to the many good points made by this excellent speech. and will add MT. Elliott's closing words:
 Through the beneficcnce of Providence these magnificent mountains having 4s peaks and fl miles of ridges exceeding 5000 feet in height. and 2eS other peaks and 300 miles of ridges O. over 5000 feet, the greatest masses of mountains east of the Rockies." and the highest moun- ts in covered with hardwood in America" have been provided as an unfailing source for the rivers of six great States. What a wonderful provision-hrst. the bounti- full, even wonderful. rainfall: then these splendid forests to preserve and store 1t for the use of men. But the work of man Is fast destroying the handiwork of God. Let us at once see to it that this shall stop and what was intended for the benefit of toiling millions shall not be per- yerted to their ruin.
 UNCERTAIN PROPERTY.
 H