Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-12-08
DEsERET EVENING NEWS.

1 Hek1n TO 5JenOl SHOWS IN metanCnOIN
| fashion how the soil has been washed
away from whole valleys, SO that they
have been converted into deserts.
In northern China this disastrous
lprocess has gone on SO long and has
proceeded so far that no complete
remedy could be applied. There are
certain mountains in China from
] which the soil is gone so utterly that
1 only the slow action of the ages could
again restore it. although of course
| much could be done to prevent the
! still farther eastward extension of the
| Mongolian desert If the Chinese gov
ernment would act 1T once. The ac-
show the inconcelvabc desolation of
| the barren mountains in which GER
| tain of these rivers risc-mountains,
| be it remembered. which formerly
supported dense forests of la,rllcs
and frs. now unable TO produce amy
| wood and because of their condition
! Il source of danger to the whole coun-
try. The photographs also show the
| same rivers after they have passed
| through the mountains. the beds hnv-
| in. become broad and sandy because
OF the dcforcstation of the mountains.
| One Of the photographs shows cara
van passing through Il valley. For
incrly, when the mountains were for
estcd, it was thickly peopled by pros
porous peasants. Now the Hoods have
carried destruction all over the land
and the valley is a stony desert, An
other photograph shows q mountain
road covered with the stones and
rocks that are brought down in the
rainy season from the mountains
| which have already been deforcsted
| by human hands. Another shows u
pebbly river bed in southern Man
churia where what was once Il great
| forestation in the mountains, Only
| some scrub wood is left, which will
disappear within Il half century. Yet
another shows the effect of one Of the
washouts, destroying an arabic noun
tain side. these washouts being due 10
the removal of all vegetation, vet in
this photograph the foreground shows
| that reforcstation is still a possibility
in places.
What has thus happened in northern
China, what has happened in central
Asia, in Palestine, In north Africa,
| in parts OF the Mediterranean coun-
tries of Europe, will surely happen in
our country IL we do not exercise that
wise forethought which should be one
| of the chief marks of any people call
| ing itself civilized. Nothing should be
permitted to stand in the way of the
| preservation of the forests, and it Is
criminal to permit individuals to pur-
chase a little gain for themselves
J through the destruction of forests
| when this destruction is fatal to the
well being of the whole country in the
| future.
Inland Waterways.
Action should be begun forthwith,
during the present session of congress,
for the Improvement of our inland wa
terways- which will result in
giving us not only navigable but
navigated rivers. We have spent
hundreds Of millions of dollars upon
| these waterways, yet the traffic on
nearly all Of them is steadily declin-
| ing. This condition is the direct re-
suit of the absence of any compre-
| hcnsive and farsecing plan of water
way Improvement. Obviously we can
not continue titus to eXpend the rev.
enues of the government without re-
! turn. 1t is poor business to spend
money for inlnnd navigation unless we
get it.
Inquiry into the condition or the
Mississippi and It's principal tributn-
ries reveals very many instances of the
utter waste caused by the methods
which have hitherto obtained for the
so called improvement of naviga-
ton. A striking instance is supplied
by the Improvement" of the Ohio,
which, begun in 1924, was continued
under single plan for half Il century.
In 1876 q new plan was adopted and
followed for quarter of Il century.
In 1902 still a different plan was adopt
ed and has since been pursued at Il
rate which only promises a navignble
river in from twenty to hundred
years longer.
anu
futile methods are accompanied by de-
creasing water borne commerce and
increasing traffic congestion on land,
by increasing floods and by the waste
of public money. The remedy lies in
abandoning the methods which have
so signally failed and adopting new
ones in keeping with the needs and
demands of orr DpODle
In report on n measure introduced
ut the first session of the present CON
gress the secretary of war said The
chief defect in the methods hitherto
pursued lies in the absence of execu-
tive authority for originating compre-
hensive plans covering the country or
natural divisions thereof" In this
opinion ! heartily concur. The pres
ent methods not only fail TO give us
inland navigation, but they are inju-
rious to the army as we'll What is
virtually permanent detail of the
corps of engineers to civilian duty nee
essarily impairs the efficiency Of our
military establishment The military
engineers have undoubtedly done eff
Gent work in actual construction, but
they are necessarily unsuited by their
training and traditions to take the
broad view and 10 gather and trans
init to the congress the commercial