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

way of holding him to responsibility
Under ordinary conditions the only
forms of pressure TO which he is In
any way amenablc are public opinion
and the action Of his fellow judges. II
Is the last which is most Immediately
effective and to which we should look
for the reform Of abuses. Any remedy
applied from without is fraught with
risk. 1T is far better from every stand.
point that the remedy should conc
from within. In no other nation In the
world do the courts WELD such vast
and farreaching power as in tho Unit
ed States. All that is necessary is that
the courts as 4 whole should exercise
this power with the fnrsightcd wis
dom already shown by those judges
who scan the future while they act in
the present. Let them exercise this
great power not only honestly and
brively, but with wise insight into
the needs and fixed purposes OF tho
people. so that they may do Justice and
work equity, so that they may protect
all persons in their rights and yet
break down the barriers of privilege,
which is the foe of right.
Forests.
If there is any one duty which more
than another we owe it to our children
and our children's children to perform
at once it is to save the forests OF
this country, for they constitute the
fret and pnrut i,n,,or-f., ,t nIo,,npt IN
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 oxhaus-
tion. 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 riv-
crs and the forests come under this
head. Any really civilized nation viii
SO use all of these three great national
assets that the nation will have their
benefit in the future. Just as farm
CT, after all his life making his living
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 cast 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
ters not whether this deforestatlon is
due to the actual reckless cutting of
timber, 10 the fires that inevitably fol
low such reckless cutting of timber or
to reclily5.; 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
astcr 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 nc
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 reclslessness in the use of
our splendid forests, we have already
crossed the verge of a timber famine in
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
age that has been done in eastern
Asia is less well known. A recent in
yestigation into conditions in north
China by Mr.. Frank n. Meyer of the
bureau Of plant industry Of the Unit
ed States department o. 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 desolation,
taking the shape of barren mountains
and gravel and sand covered plains,
which Immediately follows and de-
ponds upon the deforestation Of the
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 trar-
eler Marco Polo. He. for instance
mentions that in visiting the provinces
of Shausi and Shensi he observed
many plantations OF mulberry trees.
Now there is hardly Il single mulberry
tree in either of these provinces, and
the culture of the Silkworm has moved