The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1907-02-01
accepted and ordered placed on the
records of the society.

RECORDS OIL the society.
FOREST PRESERVATION.
M. W. Oberlin, who had been APP
| pointed essayist, responded with the
following paper on The Preservation
of the American FORESTS
| In the mind of those that have
| stepped for a while out of the routine
of life and are walking abroad with
nature long enough to consider how
| rapidly our forests are disappearing,
| there must come a feeling of resent
| ment or restraint. In dealing with
! this subject 1t is not intended to treat
the subject from the botanist's view
point In dealing with technical terms
on this occasion however profitable 1t
might be. Trees are among the most
| familiar objects in nature and among
the most easily observed and studied;
| yet how few people know one from
another or have an intelligent under
standing of their life history, their
usefulness and commercial value, their
! beauty and manifold kinds of uses.
| They are the ornaments for our parks,
| lawns, highways, the protection OF
the hillsides, the place of shade and
seclusion, and having an all important
relationship to the flow of streams by
conserving the rainfall and distribut-
| ing it normally and gradually, thus
naturally regulating our water supply.
| Anything that brings the trees of the
| forest more closely to our attention
and that makes us realize their great
! Importance is of distinct value as an
educational agent, but 1 wish here
more distinctly to dwell on the prac-
! tical side of the problem confronting
us as a society, which should be
deeply interested in the forest as well
as the orchard and other crops.
! Trees are the grandest members of
the vegetable world, their organs Of
vegetation are the root, the trunk and
branches and the leaves, their organs
or reproduction are the products of
the flower, the fruit and its seeds,
that we may learn their peculiarities
| by study, that we can act intelligently
and successfully if we have the desire.
We may also know the life of a forest
which is a story of the help and
harm which the trees receive from one
another, the relentless struggle
against their neighbors for light, water
and food. Three things most neces-
sary, not unlike the human family in
the fierce conflict for gaining livel
hood Having given what | believe
| to be fair statement of the possi-
bility of growing, preserving and pro-
| tecting our forests under existing
conditions naturally it may not be
amiss for me to call attention to the
danger growing out of a policy and
practice now in force. Whose voice
is raised on the platform in the pull
pit, press or any other place in a
practical defense of our forest? That
at the present rate of destruction it
can be but a few years until our for
ests are all destroyed, and no steps
taken to reclaim any part, if we don't
wake up to our present duty to our
future generations. How often do we
hear the remark that Il won't plant
any trees because l won't live to
enjoy the fruit of my labor. Garry
out that thought and we should hide
our face in shame at our selfishness.
Had our forefathers carried out that
thought to its final conclusion, where
would be our boasted wealth, liberty
and freedom? The wise man or ma
tion must build and construct for un-
born generations, public improve
ments should be for centuries Who
is here that would say the building of
the Appian Way by the early Romans
was folly, who would say the planting
of an orchard by one of our fore
fathers was folly, who will say that
it is foolish to commit our state or
nation to an intelligent system Of
forest preservation? There must be
some way after a careful considera-
tion to solve this problem. My con-
tention is that it must be done by
the state or nation. The federal gov
eTnment should purchase the forest
covered mountain slopes and other
lands where practical and make them
into a national forest reserve. Ger
tainly the lumberman and the native
farmers, who are now pushing the
destruction of these forests, can not
be expected of themselves to bring
about their preservation, nor can the
perpetuation of forest conditions, up
on which depend so many national in
terests, be left to the caprice of pri-
vate capital, which has no interest
beyond the profits in the lumber in
dustry. The restoration of foresLs
already injured, and the reforesting
of the mountain and hillside slopes
already cleared, are here properly
national functions, for their results
will be national in importance and ex-
tent. 1t is beyond the power of pri-
vate or small community interest to un-
dertake it as they can have no direct
interest in the protection of water
power. agriculture, and navigation
along the lower courses of the
streams whose headwaters they con-
troll 1t Is possible for the state to
purchase land that has all but been