Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-12-08
PROTECT THE FORESTS.
Their Peril Belittled by shortsight.
 ed, Greedy Public Foes.

 and our chlldren's children to perform at once 1t is to save the forests of this country, for they constitute the first and most important element fin the conservation of the natural re- sources of the country. There are, of course, two kinds of natural resources. One is the kind which can only be used as part of process of exhaus- ton. This is true of mines. natural oil and gas wells and the like. The other, and of course ultimately by far the most important, includes the re. sources which can be improved in the process of wise use. The soil. the rlv- CTS and the forests come under this head. Any really civilized nation will so use all of these three great national assets that the nation will have their benefit in the future. Just as q farm CT. after all his life making his living from his farm, will, If he Is an expert farmer, leave 1t as an asset of increas- ed value to his son, so we should leave our national domain to our children increased in value and not worn out. There are small sections of our own country in the east and in the west, in the Adirondacks, the White mountainD and the Appalachians and in tho Rocky mountains, where we can al- ready see for ourselves the damage in the shape of permanent injury to the soil and the river systems which comes from reckless deforestation. It mat ters not whether this deforestation Is due to the actual reckless cutting of timber, to the fires that inevitably fol- low such reckless cutting of timber or to reckless and uncontrolled grazing, especially by, the great migratory bands of sheep, the unchecked wan dering of which over the country means destruction to forests and dis aster to the small homemakers. the settlers of limited means.
 Shortsighted persons, or persons blinded to the future by desire to make money in every way out of the present, sometimes speak as if no great damage would be done by the reckless destruction of our forests. It is difficult to have patience with the arguments of these persons. Thanks to our own recklessness in the use of our splendid forests, we have already crossed the verge of timber famine in this country, and no measures that VIC now take can, at least for many years, undo the mischief that has al- ready been done But we can prevent further mischief being done, and it would be fin the highest degree repre- henslble to let any consideration of temporary convenience or temporary cost interfere with such action, eepe- cially as regards the national forests. which the nation can now at this very. moment control.
 All serious students of the question are aware of the great damage that has been done in the Mediterranean countries of Europe. Asia and Africa by deforestation. The similar dam age that has been done in eastern Asia is less well known. A recent in- vestigation into conditions in north China by Mr. Frank N. Meyer of the bureau of plant industry of the Unit ed States department of agriculture has incidentally furnished in very striking fashion proof of the ruin that comes from reckless deforestation of mountains and of the further fact that the damage once done may prove prac- tically irreparable. So important are these Investigations that l herewith attach as an appendix to my message certain photographs showing present conditions in China. They show in vivid fashion the appalling desoiation, taking the shape of barren mountains and gravel and sand covered plains, which immediately follows and de- pends upon the deforestation of tho mountains. Not many centuries ago the country of northern China was one of the most fertile and beautiful spots fin the entire world and was heavily forested. We know this not only from the old Chinese records, but from the accounts given by the trav- eler Marco Polo. He, for instance, mentions that in visiting the provinces of Shansi and Shensi he observed many plantations of mulberry trees Now there Is hardly single mulberry tree in either of these provinces, and the culture of the silkworm has moved | farther south, to regions of ltmos- pheric moisture
 Change Brought by Differentiation. As an illustration of the complete change in the rivers we may take Polo's statement that a certain river, the Hun Ho, was so large and deep that merchants ascended 1t from the sea with heavily laden boats. Today thts river is simply broad sandy bed. with shallow, rapid currents wander ing hither and thither across 1t, ab- solutsly unnavigable. But we do not have to depend upon written records. The dry wells and the wells with wa ter far below the former water mark bear testimony to the good days of the past and the evil days of the pres ent Wherever the native vegetation ! has been allowed to remain-as, for in- stance, here and there around 6 sacred temple or imperial burying ground there are still huge trees and tangled jungle, fragments of the glorious an- cient forests. The thick, matted for. est growth formerly covered the noun tains to their summits. All natural ! factors favored this dense forest rrorfh opd long A. rar