Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1902-09-16
THE PASSING OF THE PINES.

None too soon has come the move
ment among the operators to restrict
the output of naval stores and curtail
the destruction Of our pine forests,
North and South Carolina have been
well nigh denuded of the vast primeval
growth of pines that once constituted
for them a great source of riches
Georgia is finding its forests RAPIDLY
disappearing and waste lands taking
the place of the enormous area that
was once clothed with wealth and
healthgiving trees. Further and fur-
Their from the coast the operator with
his axes aud hacks and pullers has
forced his way, and in his wake there
have remained but a few stumps and
acres Of loblolly dwafted oaks. of lit
tie or no service to mankind. Turpen-
tine manufacturers, sawmill men, for
forest fires, and the omnipresent and
omnlyerous razor back hogs have to-
gether forever removed the woods
that less than fifty years ago stretched
in an almost unbroken mass over the
greater portion of Georgia and its sis
ter states to the north, the south, and
the west.
By the indiscriminate waste of our
pines the south has been far less bene-
fitted, financially, than the loss it has
incurred would have led one to expect.
A natural source of great income that
should have been husbanded and util-
lied for centuries to come has been al
lowed to disappear without anywise
proportionate returns to this section.
A few men have accumulated fortunes,
but the great mass Of those engaged in
the naval stores industry have found it
but livelihood. Year after year they
have been forced to new districts and
year after year has found them little,
if any, better off than before. While
the forests have been falling before
/
their inroads there has been little ac-
emulation of wealth on their part to
repay the south for the humiliation of
! its pines,
tits almost hkethe story of the stolen
horse and the barn door that was then
looked to now exert strenuous efforts
to stay the destroying hand and con
serve what is left. Probably not
third of the pines of Georgia that were
worth working are left standing in
their virgin state today. Vast inroads
have already been made on the poorer
but valuable pines of Florida. Ala
ALBANIA already knows how quickly the
forest can melt away when the turpen-
tine still and the sawmill have come
with their blighting influence. Ten
years longer and at the rate the opera
tors were going half of them would
have worked themselves out of bust
ness permanently. Fortunately halt
was called last year. This year even
better organization prevails. More
intelligent efforts will be made, there
will doubtless be more harmony Of ac-
ton, and beginning has been scored
that will tend to perpetrate the indus
try far beyond what was expected two
or three seasons back. Studying the
situation as it is, it is but reasonable
to expect all operators to lend a will
ling hand to a movement that not only
promises them better monetary re-
suits each season, but which seeks to
delay that time when the long-leaf
pine of the south, like the buffalo of
the west, will be found only in arbo-
real collections, and will exist mainly
in the memory of men who knew it in
their youthful days. Savannah Press