The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1908-12-08

Si' ditei dll MS NE ulihluS us llNlnS
from his farm. WILL If he is an expert
farmer, leave it 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 mountains
and the Appalachians and In the
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. 1t mat
tiers 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
1t 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
/ Fla a. f.
| this country, and no measures that we
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 in the highest degree repre-
hensible to let any consideration of
temporary convenience or temporary
cost interfere with such action, espe-
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
|
| Asia is less we'll 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-
tlcally 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 desolation,
taking the shape of barren mountains
and gravel and sand covered plains,
which Immediately follows and de-
mountains. Not many cenuries ago
the country of northern China was
one of the most fertile and beautiful
spots in 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 atmos-
pheric moisture.
Change Brought by Dcforestation.
AS an illustration of the complete
change In the rivers we NAV take
| Polos statement that certain river,
the Hun Ho, was so large and deep
! that merchants assembled it from the
! sea with heavily laden boats Today
| this river is simply broad sandy bed
with shallow, rapid currents wander
| ing hither and thither across it, alb
! solutely unnavigable. But we do not
have to depend upon written records
| The dry wells and the wells with wa
I 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 a sacred
temple or imperial burying ground
! there are still huge trees and tangled
| jungle, fragments of the glorious an
| Gent forests. The thick. matted for
| est growth formerly covered the noun
| tains to their SUBMITS All natural
| factors favored this dense forest
/ growth. and as long as it was per-
mitted to exist the plains at the foot
| of the mountains were among the
| most fertile on the globe, and the
whole country was a garden Not the
slightest effort was made, however,
! to prevent the unchecked cutting Of
the trees or to secure reforestation
| Doubtless for many centuries the tree
| cutting by the inhabitants of the
4! mountains worked but slowly in bring
! ing about the changes that have now
! come to pass Doubtless for genera
| lions the inroads were scarcely no.
! ticeable but there came time when
the forest had shrunk sufficiently to
make each years cutting serious
J matter. and from that time on the de-
ofr