Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1903-01-20

uSt picturesque anu SuDlllu6 ldhS "
gions. She has without protest per-
mitted the hand of the vandal and the
greedy to rob her of her most pre-
and natural scenery and which will
require decades of time and many
thousands of dollars to in part restore
to the people to whom the possession
and enjoyment of these natural re-
sources of right belong.
This was the condition prevailing
in all our western prairie states, and
especially in Iowa, and up to this date
| little has been accomplished in the
way of stopping the destruction of our
native groves.
Recently, however, there has been
organized in Iowa the Iowa forestry
commission whose purpose it is to
present to the attention of the people
of the state and to their representa-
tives the necessity of establishing as
soon as possible one or more state
parks, embracing within their boun-
| daries large bodies of water and groves
| of native timber, whereby such parks
| would be greatly enhanced in beauty
and scenery, as we'll as made more
comfortable and enjoyable for the peo-
pie who would throng them during
! the outing season and at other con-
| venient times, to encourage the max
| ing of more parks in and about the
chief cities of our state, more espe-
cially in every town, village and ham,
| let and neighborhood where there are
none now, to awaken increased inter
est in matters of forestry and the pro-
! lection of our native lumber, to call
| attention of all citizens to the propri-
ofx Of mara oorof,1l i,nprovamapt and
adornment of the silent cities of the
dead, which, owing to the advancing
age of our state, begin to stand out
in bold relief upon our landscape, and
to cause to be planted hundreds of
shade and ornamental shrubs and
trees where none now grow. and
where some have been planted to
| Largely multiply the number and Sc
cure careful attention to cultivation
and protection Of the same, also to
induce the planting of large areas of
native trees everywhere throughout
the state. To supply home consump-
ton alone, Iowa should have one-fifth
of it's acreage in timber land. She has
but one-twentieth. 1t has been ascer.
tanned beyond question that the annu.
al growth of timber in the whole for.
est area of the United States is only
about fifty per cent of the amount
yearly cut and used, not to mention
the great losses by fires, of which
over five thousand in number have
been recorded by the national forestry
| department.
| "a few years ago the German gov
eminent sent to this country an agent
| charged with making an investigation
concerning the timber supply in the
Init Tod Cfpfa Nd ! 1,o rNf %t,,a
Der used and destroyed annually. After
careful examination he reported to
his government that in less than fifty
years the United States will be COM
PEELED to import timber and he rec
commended the planting of kinds like
ly to be in greatest demand by u.s.
Germany leads the world in forestry
and will reap rich reward from sales
of timber to other countries.
Respecting the need of legislation
to prevent the destruction of our nat
/ ural scenery of this continent, the
making of national parks and the
/ preservation of all of our forest lands,
it is a significant fact that the COM
missioner of the general land office,
Hon. Binger Herman. in his last annu-
al report, recommends the enactment
/ of a law giving to the President of the
United States authority to preserve
tracts of land for national park pur-
poses without approval or further ac-
ton of congress, and he further rec
ommends that all public lands which
are more valuable for forest trees
than for other purposes, shall be with
drawn from settlement entry, sale or
| other disposition and to be held for
the protection and utilization of the
timber thereon in accordance with the
provisions of the forest reservation
laws.
"'Who loves tree he loves life
That springs in star and clod;
He loves the love that gilds the clouds
And greens the April sod.
He loves the wide beneficence,
i His soul takes hold of Cod
"sAh! Bare must be the shadeless
ways,
And bleak the path must be,
OF him who, having open eyes,
4 Has never learned to see
And so has never learned to love
The beauty of tree
A. w. Lee.
A. w. Lee was then called upon by
Toastmaster Harper and responded to
the toast, "The Newspaper of the Flu
ture," as follows:
Zone of the speakers who has pre-
ceded me has told you of the newspa-
per of the past and present, and has
clearly indicated the tremendous
strides that have been made in the
development of the newspaper in the
past decade.
what of the future? Can the
changed conditions, the revolution eff
fected by the perfecting press, the
marvellous type casting machines, the
half tone illustration, the cheapened
cost of white paper, the extension of
Geographic and telephone commune
; cation, and fast mail trains, continue
indefinitely? Will We see such mar.
/. Vicious improvements and changes in
the future as have occurred during the
lives of the gentlemen present this ev-
ening? There will be improvements
and there will be continued progress
sion, but it is safe to say that the linn
; it has been nearly reached in the de-