The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1905-10-13

ADJOURNED
State Club Women Ended Ses-
sions Last Night.
ADDRESS ON FORESTRY
Miss Susan Clark of Brattleboro Wa
Reelected President = The Con-
stitution Was Somewhat
Modified.
ADDRESS ON FORESTRY

The final session OF the Vermont Fed
Grafton OF Women's Clubs was held in
the Methodist church at T.15 last even
ing, when Mrs. Walter Stokes Irons adj
dressed a public meeting ON Women OF
Colonial DAYS" Mrs. Irons address
was most interesting one. She told
Of the work and recreation Of the women
who were the wives and daughters OF
pioneer settlers. She told Of the work
OF Anne Story in aiding the Green
Mountain Boys during the war with
England. of Mrs. Brette, who was really
the first agitator for women's suffrage,
of famous women Of Massachusetts, who
formed sort Of club before the Rev
oIution, but which was so frowned upon
by the men that it was dropped. But
club was started about the time OF
the s'Boston tea party which was known
as the Daughters Of Liberty" This
was really the first woman's club in
America.
Mrs Irons told Of the first women
writer's, how their work was looked down
on by the men and the little sympathy
which the writer's received. She also
told Of the pastimes Of the women and
children, both North and South, saying
that the children of New York and the
colonies south from that, had much more
liberty than had they in Massachusetts.
The purpose of Mrs. Irons talk was TO
show that the agitation Of women's suh
rage and women's clubs is no new idea.
The tenth annual meeting OF the sVer-
mont State Federation OF Women's Clubs
was adjourned at $3.50 to allow the
ladies to attend the lecture by Jacob
Riis. The delegates returned to their
homes today.
Destruction of Forests.
Yesterday afternoons session Of the
meeting was called to order at $3.50,
aud the opening number was paper
| BY Miss Helen Williston Smith, chair-
man Of the committee on forestry. This
was followed by an address by Ernest
! Hitchcock, secretary of the Forestry As
sociati0n Of Vermont.
Afr. Hitchcock stated that a universal
| interest has been aroused throughout
the United States by the portending dan
ger of a timber famine. In speaking OF
| this danger Mr.. Hitchcock said that in
1900 thirty-five billion board feet Of
| lumber were used in these United States,
that the estimated supply Of timber is
,240 billion board feet.
Thus in IS years, under the present
methods Of numbering, we shall have no
forests in our country. 1t would take
from 100 to 200 years to cover the
stripped timber land with another
growth Of valuable timber The rail-
roads OF the United States use annually
| 1aO,0o0000 railroad ties, or about 4
billion feet; they use for other pur
poses an equal amount, making total
Of eight billion feet used annually by
the railroads.
Certain kinds of timber are nearly
extinct in the United States Pines, for
| instance, for which Maine was once fam
Gus, are very scarce specimen at pres
ent in that state. Michigan, Wisconsin,
and Minnesota win be stripped Of pine
timber in very few years.
Mr.. Hitchcock said that as we lessen
our timber land we are lessening our
supply of underground water currents,
/ for il is chiefly in the timber lands
| that these have their sources, as the
open lands are beaten down to such
an extent that most Of the water runs
off as surface water. As the forests
grow less the floods in the spring caused
BY the rapidly melting SHOWS become
worse. In the forests the snow does not
melt SO rapidly and SO sinks into the
ground Our forests act like large bod
les Of water in equalizlng the tempera
ture. Mr. Hitchcock thought the best
way for Verrnonters to stop the destruc-
ton Of our forests was for the legisla-
| ture to make d law regulating the taxa
tion OF timber lands so that the owners
could afford to let the timber stand in
stead Of stripping il otl as quickly a.
possible.
On the matter Of forest fires, Mr..
! Hitchcock said that it seemed to him
as ii insurance companies ought to in
sure man timber as readily as a
| city block. Vermont small as it Is
comparatively, lost $250,O00 BY forest
fres last year, while Washington lost
S12 100000 from forest fires. This sum
does not show all the loss, but only that
of timber The sections burned over
lose much more, however, because the
young saphngs, seeds, and vegetation
OF all kinds Is also killed. and ii the
forest happens to be on hill or noun
tain slope, as IS usually the case in
Vermont. the next rain after a fire Isl
likely to carry the whole upper surface
Of the soil down into the valleys, filing
mp rivers and lakes
There is social problem also con-
uectcd with the wholesale stripping Of
onr hills, for by the buying up and
cutting over by the great syndicates Of
vast districts, the people Of those dis
tricts are deprived of their vocation,
that Of numbering on small scale, So
our small villages are being slowly de-
populated. In Vermont we have between
2 100000 and 3,500,o00 acres Of forest
and waste land, but the waste land il
getting rapidly larger Vermont realizes
annually S6,0O0,000 from timber and
about $4,o00,o00 from FIRE wood, bark,