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

direct result of the destruction 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 further eastward extension OF
the Monaghan Desert If the Chinese
Covenant would act at once. The
accompanying cuts from photographs
show the inconceivable desolation or
the barren mountains in which GER
tain of these rivers rise-mountains,
be it remembered, which formerly sup
ported dense forests of larches and
frs, now unable to produce any wood,
and because of their condition a
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 ca
ravan passing through valley. For
merly. when the mountains were for
ested. it was thickly peopled by pros
porous peasants. Now the floods 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
pebbly river-bed in southern Manchu-
ria where what was once a great
stream has dried up owing to the de-
forestation in the mountains. Only
some scrub wood is left, which viii
disappear within 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 this photograph the foreground
shows that reforestation is still pos
sibility in places.
What has thus happened in north
ern China, what has happened in Gen.
trail Asia, in Palestine, in North Afrf-
ca, in parts of the Mediterranean
countries of Europe, will surely hap
pen in our country IL we do not ex-
ercise that wise forethought which
should be one of the chief marks or
any people calling itself civilized.
Nothing should be permitted to stand
in the way of the preservation of the
forests, and 1t is criminal to permit
individuals to purchase a little gain
for themselves through the destruc-
ton of forests when this destruction
Is fatal to the wellbeing of the whole
country in the future.
INLAND WATERWAYS
Action should be begun forthwith,
during the present session of the
Congress, for the improvement of our
inland waterways which will
result in giving us not only naviga-
BILE but navigated rivers. We have
spent hundreds of millions of dollars
upon these waterways, yet the traffic
on nearly all of them is steadily de-
Ginning This condition is the direct
result of the absence of any compre-
hensive and far-seeing 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 businss to spend mon
ey for inland navigation unless we
get it.
Inquiry into the condition of the
Mississippi and its principal tributar-
les 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,
begun in 1924, was continued under a
single plan for half a century. In
1876 a new plan was adopted and fol-
lowed for quarter of a century. In
1902 still a different plan was adopted
and has since been pursued at rate
which only promises navigable riv-
er in from twenty to one hundred
years longer.
Such shortsighted, vacillating, and
futile methods are accompanied by
decreasin 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
ores in keeping with the needs and
demands Of our people
In a report on measure introduce
ed at the first session of the present
Congress. the Secretary of War said:
"The chief defect In the methods
hitherto pursued lies in the absence
of executive authority for originating
comprehensive plans covering the
country or natural divisions thereof.
In this opinion I heartily concur. The
present methods not only fail to give
us inland navigation, but they are IN
furious to the army as well. What ~
virtually a permanent detail of the
corps of engineers to civilian duty
necessarily impairs the efficiency OF
our military establishment The mill