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

OIL the MQuUtdluS were 93 siIuOllS y lue
most fertile on the globe, and the
whole country was a garden. Not the
Islightest effort was made, however,
| to prevent the unchecked cutting OF
| the trees or to secure reforestation.
! Doubtless for many centuries the tree
Icutting by the Inhabitants of the
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.
|ttceablc but there came Il time when
| the forest hnd shrunk sufficiently 10
make each years cutting II serious
ina tier and from that time on the de-
strnction proceeded with appalling ra-
| pidity, for of course each year of de-
| structioii rendered the forest less able
to recuperatc, less able to resist next
| years inroad
! Mr.. Meyer describes the ceaselcss
progress of the destruction even
now, when there is so little left
10 destroy. Every morning men and
| boys go out armed With mattock
or AK, scale The steepest mountain
3
and branch. the small trees and shrubs
| still TO be found. The big trees dis
l3appcared centuries ago, so that now
one of these Is never seen save in the
| neighboIhood of temples, where they
are nrtiticially protected, and even
here ii takes all the watch and care of
| tile tree loving priests 10 prevent their
destruction. Each family, each com
munity, where there is no common
care exercised in the interest of all of
them to prevent dcforestati0n, finds its
profit in tho immediate use of the fuel
which would otherwise be used by
some other family or some other com
munity In the total absence of regu-
lation of the matter in the interest of
! the whole people each small group is
inevitably pushed into a policy of de-
struction which cannot afford to take
thought for the morrow. This is Just
one OF those matters which 1t is fatal
to leave to unsupervised individual
control. The forests can only he pro
tected by the state, by the nation, aud
the liberty of action of individuals
must be conditioned upon what the
state or nation determines to be neces-
sary for the common safety.
The lesson of deforestation in China
is lesson which mankind should have
learned many times already from what
has occurred in other places. Denuda-
tion leaves naked soil, then Outlying
cuts down to the bare rock, and mean
while the rock waste buries the bot
tom lands. When the soil is gone men
must go, aud the process does not
take long.
The ruthless destruction of the for
ests in northern China has brought
about or has aided in bringing about
desolation, just as the destruction of
the forests in central Asia aid in bring
ing ruin to the once rich central Asian
cities, just as the destruction Of the
forests in northern Africa helped to-
ward the ruin Of q region that was a
fertile granary in Roman days. Short
sighted man, whether barharic semi
civilized or what he mistakenly regards
as fully civilized, when he has destroy
ed the forests has rendered certain the
ultimate destruction of the land itself.
In northern China the mountains are
now such as are shown by the accom-
panying photographs, absolutely barren
peaks. Not only have the forests been
destroyed, but becattse of their destruG-
ton the soil has been washed off the
naked rock. The terrible consequence
is that it is impossible now to undo
the damage that has been done Many
centuries would have to pass before
soil would again collect or could be
made to collect in sufficient quantity
once more TO support the old time for
est growth. In consequence the Mon
gol desert is practically extending cast
ward over northern China. The cli-2
mate has changed and is still chang
ing. 1t has changed even within the
last half century as the work of tree
destruction has been consulnmated.s
The great masses of arboreal vegetation
on the mountains formerly absorbed
the heat of the sun and sent up cur.
rents of cool air which brought the
moisture laden clouds lower and forced
them to precipitatc in rain Il part of
their burden of water. Now that there
is no vegetation the barren mountains,
scorched by the sun. send up currents
Of heated air which drive away in
stead of attracting the rain clouds and
cause their moisture to be disseminnt-
ed. In consequence, instead of the reg
ular and plentiful rains which existed
in these regions of China when the
forests We're still in evidence, the I'M
fortunate inhabitants of the deforested
lands now see their crops wither for
lack of rainfall, while tho seasons grow
more and more irregular, and as the
air becomes drier certain crops refuse
longer to grow at all.
That everything dries out faster than
formerly is shown by the fact that the
level of the wells all over the land has
sunk pcrceDtibly, many of them hay.
ing become totally dry. In addition to
the resulting agricultural distress. the
water courses have changed. Former.
ly they were narrow and deep, with an
abundance of clear water the year
around. for the roots and humus of
the forests caught the rainwater and
let it escape by slow, regular seepage
They have now become broad, shallow
stream beds in which muddy water
trickles in slender currents during the
dry seasons, while Wien it rains there