The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-12-08

| are IfoSnGES, ana IOdTluS uuuuy lOE-
rents come tearing down, bringing dis
! aster. and destruction everywhere.
| Moreover. these foods and freshets,
| which diversity the general dryness,
wash away from the mountain sides
and either wash away or cover in the
valleys the rich fertile soil which it
| took tens of thousands of years for
nature to form, and it is lost forever,
and until the forests grow again it
cannot be replaced. The sand and
stones from the mountain sides are
washed loose and come rolling down to
| cover-.the arabic lands, and in conse-
quence throughout this part of China
many formerly rich districts are now
sandy wastes, useless for human Gull
tivation and even for pasture. The
cities have been, of course. seriously
affected, for the streams have grad
ually ceased to be navigable. There is
testimony that even within the menu
DRY of men now living there has been
serious diminution of the rainfall OF
northeastern China. The level of the
Sungari river. in northern Manchuria,
has been sensibly lowered during the
last fifty years, at least partly as the
result of the indiscriminate cutting of
the forests forming its watershed. AL
most all the rivers of northern China
have become uncomfortable and very
dangerous to the jewellers along their
banks as a direct result of the deStruc-
ton of the forests. The journey from
Pekin to Jehol shows in melancholy
fashion how the soil has been washed
away from whole valleys, SO that they
have been converted into deserts.
In northern China this disastrous
process 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
| 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
Monaghan desert if the Chinese gov
ernment would act at once. The ac-
companying cuts from photographs
show the inconceivable desolatiOn of
the barren mountains in which GER
| tain of these rivers riSe-mountainS,
be it remembered, which formerly
supported dense forests of larcheS
and frs, now unable to produce any
wood and because of their condition
source of danger to the whole coun
try. The photographs also show the
same rivers after they have passed
through the mountains, the beds hav
ing become broad and sandy because
of the deforestation of the mountains.
One of the photographs shows cara
van passing through a valley. For
merly, when the mountains were for
ested, it was thickly peopled by pros
porous peasants Now the foods have
carried destruction all over the land
and the valley is stony desert. An
other photograph shows mountain
road covered with the stones and
rocks that are brought down in the
rainy season from the mountains
which have already been deforested
by human hands. Another shows a
pebbly river bed in southern Man
churia where what was once a great
strea IN has dried up owing to the de-
forestation in the mountains. Only
some scrub wood is left, which will
disappear within a half century. Yet
another shows the effect of one of the
washouts, destroying an arabic noun
tain side. these washouts being due to
the removal of all vegetation, yet in
that reforestation is still 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 if we do not exercise that
wise forethought which should be one
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 little gain for themselves
through the destruction of forests
when this destruction is fatal to the
we'll 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-action 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
hensive and farseeing plan of water
way Improvement. Obviously we can
not continue thus to eXpend the rev.
enues of the government without re-
turn. 1t is poor business to spend
money for inland navigation unless we
get it.
Inquiry into the condition of the
Mississippi and its principal tributa-