The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-06-11
THE ISSUE OF THE HOUR.

| Yesterday this paper in an article on
The Lesson of the Carolina Floods,
pointed out that these two horrible dis
asters was costly argument in favor OF
the Appalachian Forest Reserve. 1t ought
not to pass without being learned by the
leaders of thought and the legislators of
the country.
In an elaborate editorial on ''The Issue
of the Hour" the Columbia State, after
discussing the cause of the calamity,
says:
But the Pacolet flood was duplicated
in a measure in every channel which
brings the waters from the Blue Ridge
to the larger rivers of northwestern
South Carolina-the Enoree, the Tiger.
the Saluda, the Reedy, the Keowee and
the Seneca. If a cloudburst caused the
Pacolet flood it must have stretched across
the Blue Ridge mountains and on down
into the Piedmont country. Would Il
cloudburst contributing only five inches
of rainfall cause such an inundation I'M
der natural circumstances? Our idea IS
that this inundation was possible because
of certain alterations which have been
made in the arrangements of nature for
the regular drainage of that country.
"The commercial development of that
section in the last two decades has been
marked by the building of almost innum-
cradle cotton mills, the cleaning up Of
land for cultivation and an onslaught upon
the forests for lumber and fuel The SELL
ing of fire wood alone has become quite
an industry in that section since the fac
tories have begotten so many towns and
villages, the cleaning of the lands has
been extensively pushed, and into the
mountains the lumberman has gone with
axe and saw, seeking only marketable
product and thinking little of the effect
his forays may have upon the country,
the rivers and the valleys. 1t is a well
established fact however, that the de-
struction, or the growing of forests, has
its influence upon the fall of rain anG
upon its distribution. We therefore, sug-
gest that the destruction of the trees in
the Piedmont and along the Blue Ridge
has had something to do with the recent
inequality of rainfall and the inequality
of its distribution-that is has unsettled
the conditions established in the economy
of nature.
floods which have now come upon us
have been predicted. The experts long
ago said that unless the indiscriminate
slaughter of the trees in that mountain
country were stopped we would have just
such calamities as have visited the val
leys of the Piedmont. 1t was this belief
this knowledge, to be eXact-whlch
prompted the proposition to set apart
vast region in the Blue Ridge mountains
as a forest reserve, to stamp 1t as invlola-
BILE from the unheeding hand of the TN
thinking axeman In order that the pro-
visions of nature for the nurture and safe
ty of the lower country might be pre-
served. The events of these last few ter
rible days have justified these predictions
The plans for the establishment of this
forest reserve are now become the wlsest
efforts being made at this time for this
sections advantage and interest and the
passage by Congress of an act authorizing
the scheme is the paramount issue OF the
hour. so far as this part of the South is
concerned The Appalachian Park forest
reserve is no longer to be regarded as an
idle. irridescent dream. 1t Is shown to be
a necessity, a vital necessity. The noun
tain forests must be saved, for upon them
depend the prosperity, even the life, OF
all this lower section.
LET our Congressman nail that demand
to the mastheads of their ship. Let the
the publicists and the newspa-
pers all over the land take up the cry.
For they may see what means further
neglect and further delay-the safety OF
many thousand lives and of many million
dollars is at stake"