The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-12-09

Gus matter. and from that time on
the destruction proceeded with ap-
palling rapidity; for of course each
year of destruction rendered the for
est less able to recuperate, less able
to resist next years inroad. Mr..
Meyer describes the ceaseless prog
ress of the destruction even now,
when there is so little left to destroy.
Every morning men and boys go out
armed with mattox or axe, scale the
steepest mountain sides, and cut down
and grub out, root and branch, the
small trees and shrubs still to be
found The big trees disappeared
centuries ago, so that now one of
these is never seen save in the neigh
borhood of temples. wher they are
artif1cially protected; and even here
it takes all the watch and care of the
tree-loving priests to prevent their
destruction. Each family. each COM
munity where there is no common
care exruised in the interest of all
Of them to prevent deforestatIon,
finds its profit in the immediate use
cf the fuel which would otherwise
be- used by some other family or some
other community. In the total alb
sence of regulation of the matter in
the interest of the whole people, each
small group is inevitably pushed into
a policy of destruction which can not
afford to take thought for the morrow.
This is just one of those matters
which it is fatal to leave to unsuper-
vised individual control. The forests
can only be protected by the State by
the Nation; and the liberty of action
of individuals must be conditioned up
on what the State or Nation deter
mines to be necessary for the COM
mon safety.
The lesson of deforestation in Chi
ma is a lesson which mankind should
have learned many times already
from what has occurred in other
places. Denudation leaves naked soil;
then outlying cuts down to the bare
rock; and meanwhile the rock-waste
buries the bottomlands. When the
soil is gone, men must go; and the
process does not take long.
This ruthless destruction Of the for
ests in northern China has brought
about, or has aided in bringing about,
desolation, just as the destruction oil
the forests in central Asia aided in
bringing ruin to the once rich cen
trail Asian cities. just as the des'
truction o. the forests in northern
Africa helped towards the ruin or a
region that was a fertile granary in
Roman days. Shortsighted man,
whether barbaric, semi-civilized, or
what he mistakenly regards as fully
civilized, when he has destroyed the
forests. has rendered certain the VI
innate destruction of the land itself
In northern China the mountains are
now such as are shown by the &C
companying photographs, absolutely
barren peaks. Not only have the for
ests been destroyed, but because OF
their destruction the soil has been
washed off the naked rock. The ter
rfble consequence is that it is impos-
sible now to undo the damage that
has been done. Many centuries would
have to pass before soil would again
collect, or could be made to collect,
or could be made to collect, in suft1-
cient quantity once more to support
the old-time forest growth. In con-
sequence the Mongol Desert is prac-
tically extending eastward over north
ern China. The climate has changed
and is still changing 1t has changed
even within the last half century, as
the work of tree destruction has been
contaminated. The great masses OF
arboreal vegetation on the mountains
formerly absorbed the heat OF the
sun and sent up currents OF cool air
which brought the mo1sture-laden
clouds lower and forced them to pre-
cipitate in rain a part OF their Dur
den of water. Now that there is
no vegetation, the barren mountains,
scorched by the sun, send up currents
of heated air which drive away in
stead of attracting the rain clouds,
and cause their moisture to be dis
seminated. In consequence, instead
of the regular and plntifuI rains
which existed in these regions of Chi
ma when the forests were still in eVl'
dence, the unfortunate inhabitants
of the regular and plentiful rains
crops wither for lack of rainfall
while the seasons grow more and
more irregular; and as the air be
comes dryer certain crops refuse
longer to grow at all. That every
thing dries out faster than formerly
is shown by the fact that the level
of the wells all over the land has sunk
perceptibIy, many of them having be
come totally dry. IN addition to the
resulting agricultural distress, the
watercourses have changed. Former
w they were narrow and deep, with
an abundance of clear water the year
around: for the roots and humus Of
the forests caught the rainwater and
let it escape by slow, regular seepage
They have now become broad, shall
low stream beds, in which muddy wa
ter trickIes slender currents during
the DRY. seasons, while when it rains
there are freshets, and roaring mudds
torrents come tearing down, bringing
disaster and destruction everywhere
| Moreover, these floods and freshets
which diversity the general dryness
wish away from the mountain sides
and either wash away or cover in the
valleys, the rich fertile soil which II
.o1~ +orc IF thousands Of wears fol