The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-01-31
Preservation of Forests Urged
 Upon Congress,
HOKE SMITH LEADS DEBATE
Governors, State Officials and Promi- nent Men Appear In a Body Be- fore House Committee To
 Urge Action on Matter.

Washington, January 30--Governors and their representatives, other state officials, federal experts, presidents of commercial and civic associations and officers and members of dozen forestry bodies, num- bering in all nearly 200, and represent ing all of the states east of the Missis- sippi river. except Florida. Illinois, In diana and Mississippi appeared as a spe- cial forestry delegation before the House committee on forestry today, under the leadership of Hoke Smith of Georgia, who made an exceptionally forceful show ing of facts and figures in support of the Currier bill, appropriating s5,OOO,OOO for the purchase of about 100000 acres of mountain lands in the Appalachian and White mountains to be held as national forest reserves for the conservation and control of the navigable and power-pro- ducing streams of the states affected.
 Hoke Smith Talks.
 Sessions were held morning and aft ernoon in the as yet unoccupied rooms of the ways and means committee, in the new House office building. At each ses sion Chairman Scott of the committee, relinquished control of the hearing to Governor Smith, as chairman of the dele gation. Though the speaker confined himself in a measure to the peculiar needs of the section he represented the major chord played upon by.- all was the vital necessity for federal reclamation of the headwaters lands throughout the White mountains and Appalachian chains, and by preservation and reforestation. conserving and controlling annually the stream flows so that their powerproduc- ing capacity shall be retained. Startling facts as to the dminution of streams and deforestation of this particular sec tion through a necessary score of states were presented by members of the dele gation; and in a masterly summing up Governor Smith pleaded for favorable report on the bill by the committee. We did not come here to seek the aid of the next Congress. We want this Congress to appropriate the money" he said. Those who addressed the committee at the afternoon session were Messrs. Knowles, engineer in charge of the fitra- ton at Pittsburg; M. O. Leanghton, chief Photographer lof the geological survey, in charge of the water resources investi- gations of the government; Governor Floyd of New Hampshire; William L. Hall, secretary of the delegation; Charles ], c. Goodrich. general manager of the Hartford and New York Transportation company; Prof M. J. Hapgood. repre- senting the governor of Vermont; L. C. | Glenn of Vanderbilt university; George B. Layton, vice president of the Monad- onock (N. H) Civic association; pr. , Michael F. Sullivan, president of the Lawrence, (Mass) Board of Trade; Harry N. Shepherd of Boston; Gov. Hoke Smith of Georgia, and Chairman Scott of the committee. The latter assured the dele gation that the case as presented would secure the most careful and thorough consideration.
 Substance of Bill.
 The bill authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to advertise for such lands and acquire them under the low bid plan, purchase to be subject to ratification by the legislatures of the respective states. For these purchases the sum of $5, 100000 is appropriated by the bill. to be available immediately and the lands so acquired are to become national for est reserves.
 
 man of the committee, placed the con- duction of the hearing in the hands of Governor Smith of Georgia chairman of the delegation. Governor Smith stated briefly the object of the delegation in appearing before the committee. He said that the estimated area necessary of ac- quirement in the Appalachian mountains for the conservation and regulation of the stream flows, arising there, comprises 5000, 900 acres, and in the White noun tains from 1.500,000 to 100000 acres. I. c. White, state geologist of West Virginia, made the statement that more commerce passes through the city of Pittsburg than through any four other manufacturing cities of the world due primarily to the industrial value of the Monongahela river and it's tributaries. Millions of dollars, he said, are being spent to improve the navigablity of the Monongahela and the Ohio. Yet the continued practice of cut ting off the forests contiguous to them means the filling up of those streams with soil and storm borne debris.
 Value of Streams.
 A. M. Shain of Georgia, representing the American Institute of Electrical En- the industrial value of the Appalachian the industrial value of the Appalachion streams and of the commercial impor- tance of conserving and regulat tiong their annual flows. He said that the total timated horsepower capacity of these streams in the southern states should be equal to the operation of 100000 spindle.s, but that the constantly increasing dim- mutton and yearly fluctuations of the flows has necessitated resort to auxiliary steam power plants at many of the south ern mills.
 Clifford Pinchot, chief of the bureau of forestry, repeated the warnings he had already sent out of the danger of an approaching timber famine, especially in hard woods.
 "The United States,' he said, lis reach ing a dangerous condition in the natonas timber supply. We are on the verge of timber famine.'' He said that one- fourth of the total timber consumption today is of hard wood or about 25, 0O0. .0Oo 900 feet.