The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-01-05
rnE roREsr RESERVES.


 for the conditions now existing. We allude to the bill to establish and maintain what are known as the White Moutain Forest Reservation and the Appalachian Forest Reserva- ton, The former lies principally in the State of New Hampshire. but the latter embraces portions of Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia. Alabama and Tennessee; in short, 1t affects all the South Atlantic states. and is of vital importance to the future of all or them.
 There is a bill now before Congress to establish these reservations, and the condition of that bill. to quote contemporary. the name of which IS not remembered, lis the most humilia- ting possible. It passed the senata without opposition: it has beep unan- imously recommended for passage by the House committee, to which 1t was referred, in course; the President IS strongly in favor of it. So confident are 1rS Ir1eHuS lndl all oNOA majority of the Representatives are for it, that all they ask is that It De brought to a vote. This session or Congress will continue for two full months. And yet, notwithstanding the favor in which it stands in Congress. and the very strong popular support for 1t outside, there exists very grave doubt with those who are upon the ground if it can be brought to vote. The speaker individually has been very stubbornly opposed to it.. The entertaining the doubt ;s confess sion that the individual attitude of the person who holds the position Of speaker in Republican Congress Is powerful enough to defy the will or the majority for an indefinite period, probably at pleasure And so friends of the measure. who feel that the sit uation is urgent because uf the work that is going rapidly forward in de- nuding the area comprehended in the bill of its forest growth, are rushing about getting popular petitions. nom inally for the passage' of the Dill but virtually in an effort to bring such pressure to bear as will force the speaker to yield his arbitrary position in defiance of the majority. There Is nothing else they can do. That ought not to be necessary under cur form of government, and the man who makes it necessary ought not to be continued in a position where he can interpose such Instructions.
 It really ought not to be lecessary in this day to point out the injury done by forest denudation. If only sthe land on which the trees stand would be injured by cutting away the timber it would be bad enough, but that is only a very small part of the harm done. If one will take map and look over the region comprised in the proposed Appalachian Reservation it will be easy to understand the vast interests involved in the measure. A number of large and important rivers and numerous smaller streams havs their sources in the mountainous re- zion referred to- Some of these rivers How East and Southeast into the Atlantic and others flow South and Southwest into the Gulf of Mexico. All of them are highly important to the industries and commerce of the country. and all of them should be pro- tected.
 The harm done by destroying the forests in which these streams rise Is twofold; it causes both floods and drouths in turn. The leaves and roots of the trees and undergrowth retain much of the water that falls during heavy rains. They hold it and cause it to sink into the earth 10 reappear in the form of springs of water which gradually feed the branches and creeks which form the large rivers. By this means the water that falls during the rainy season is held and given off gradually so that something like equilibrium is maintained in the rivers all the year round. If, on the other hand. the timber is all cut off and the sides of the hills and mountains left bare the heavy rains will rush down them at once. causing floods in the ranfy season, and as little of the falling water has been retained, there will be consequent drouths following s the floods.
 These facts are too well established to require argument and are referred to in order to show the incalculable harm that will result from failure in preserve the timber in this great re- zion. It is not merely the wholesale and often ill-judged cutting away of the trees themselves but the after eff fects that are to be avoided. In all most every portion of the older regions of the country the damage caused by alternate floods and drouths has been noted and properly charged to forest destruction.
 We know that, to use the language i of The Columbia State, "it has been ' urged as an argument against tha the idea of State rights to give the | national government any additional ! control of lands. But this is a mat ter beyond the control of any one or any two or three States. They must unite. and the only sound method of taking united action is through the national government The Appalach ian region lies within ;he borders of eight States No one State can &C.,