The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1903-12-18
DESTROYING THE
WOODLAND.

DESTROYING THE
WOODLAND.
The most important part of the re-
port OF the Secretary of the Interior,
says the Baltimore american, is that
which bears on the public lands. The
sales of lands during the year, the de-
lection of frauds ard the apprehension
of the criminals are all matters of pro-
found interest to those who reflect.
The almost. countless millions of acres
which have been sold for a song in the
past might, if they had been disposed
Of with stipulations, and those stipu-
lations rigidly enforced, be o a vast
empire, not only fertile and produc-
tive in itself, but contributing largely
to an even greater area which is now
as barren and worthless as the oceans
shores. Had these public lands been
disposed of in that way the plea for
irrigation would not even possess the
virtue of plausibility. From the be-
ginning Of land sales many years ago
the practice has been almost uniform
of disposing of the public lands with
out regard to the timber standing on
them, and while one wanted the ground,
the other wanted the trees. The two
together managed to strip the land
perfectly bare, and gradually destroy
its value for any purpose.
: The land denuded of its forests soon
becomes rainless and useless for cult
walton, and the Far West, instead of
improving in this respect, is deterior.
ating all the time. There have been
strong protests from some statesmen,
but the majority has never seemed to
realize the prime Importance of pre-.
serving these forests. There are por.
tions of the West which are natural
deserts-at least, they have been so
for many hundreds and probably
thousands, Of years. They are spots
where the sea once stood, but being
basins below the level Of the contigu-
Gus lands, and in some instances be-
low the level of the sea itself, they are
charged with alkali to a great depth
and unfit for cultivation. The only
way to restore such lands is to bring
the sea back, an enterprise so expen-
sive that it is lot likely it will be at
tempted for centuries if at all. But
there are great tracts OF territory
which are deserts purely for the lack
of trees, and there are other huge
tracts which seventy-ive years ago
were highly productive, but have been
ruined by the timber getters, who
have stripped the adjacent forests bare
to supply timbers for II e mines which
in many cases were not worth the tim
bering.
There is not in the scope of modern
civilization such a deplorable instance
of vandalism. The damage is almost
complete now, but there are some
brands that car be snatched from the
burning. The government in recent
years has taken a wiser view of the
matter, and it may be able to discover
a still wiser method of protecting this
timber, not for settlers, but for the
whole country. The Dawes commits
sion recommends the sale of the lands
Of a number of Indian tribes, ostensi-
bly, because. the Indians make bad
leases. The improvidence Of the In
dian, and his apparent inability to
adopt business methods, is to be re-
GREETED, but the American people
-
ought not to be made to suffer by
them. If the leases are properly su-
persised, so as to prevent timber cut
ting, the public cannot be injured so
long as the Indians, hold the fee but
if these lands are sold outright the
timber will probably disappear in a
marvelously short time. Those peo-
pie who have arabic lands and no for
ests have long since realized the para
mount Importance OF timber, and have
gone to work manfully to supply the
deficiency. The government cannot
do q wiser act than to save what is
left so far as it is possible.
In the report of Messrs. Holmes
Conrad and G. J. Bonaparte on the
T,1loob oborooo If fro nd in tho n0ota1