The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-04-25
THE APPALACHIAN BILL
And Other Aspects of the Need of q
 Radical Policy In Forestry.

From Editorial in the May Century.
 If the work of saving the forests-or what is left of them by the ignorance and rapacity Of corporate and private owner ship-is to be set on foot, once for all, without false starts 1t must be under taken In not only a patriotic spirit, but with imagination. It is easy to learn what has been wasted in the century past public resources probably sufficient to have made 1t unnecessary for any Amer ican citizen to have paid a cent of tax. What is needed, is to project the mind 50 years ahead to consider the problem in the light of the enormous foreign popula- ton that is coming to us and learning from us ghastly lessons of laissez-faire- a policy which in matters of forestry their own governments have learned through disastrous experience to abandon.
 There are unmistakable signs of a re- action in the excessive individualism, the go-as-you-p please, every -man-for himself l-may-do -what-I -wish-with- -my-own views of life. new spirit is upon us, with a new definition of eminent domain, en- larging it's scope to control of private interests that exist to the injury of the public. This is not socialism in the vo- lent sense of the word; rightly con- ceived, 1t is a new sense of brotherhood. It's principle is: You ought not to get your happiness at the expense of your fellow man." It does not point to con fiscaton; on the contrary, it promises to supply a working substitute for an archy It may easily be misapplied or car ried too far But it is not more danger ous than certain false methods of cor porate ownership and the equally tyran- nical excesses of trade unionism, which together have created so much of the new social unrest The trend of prog ress points to a more excellent way.
 To apply this to a single aspect of the forestry question: Why should owners of enormous tracts of mountain forests be permitted to denude them, to the manifest injury of the agriculture navi- gaton and commerce of the valleys and streams which they supply? We are ac- customed to think of nature IS dom mating force, whereas it's modification by human action is the most constant or phenomena. The life of man has been ! described as substantially warfare
 against the animals, against his fellows | and against the face Of nature. It is the i business of government not to promote, l but to restrict this warfare, as 1t has
 done in the reservation of western for
 ests- one or the most important notes of | progress the country has struck since tha civil war It is the office of the wifi not only to protect the weak against t3e
 strong, but to protect the foolish from
 themselves.
 There are signs that in this matter | other countries are awake to their peril
 and responsibilities. British Columbia is | taking time by the forelock and by a ! sweeping act reserving for governmental
 control every acre of forest land not al-
 ready leased. Colombia, in South Amer ica has also passed new forest laws in
 keeping with intelligent modern public l opinion The conference cannot directly Il legislate, but its recommendations and in-
 fluence ought to shape a policy of CO.,
 operation between the nation and the 1 states along uniform lines. The Appa- | lachian bill is a step in the right direc- ] tion and ought to be enacted, but we | must go farther, considering the forests | or the country Wltn all uue respect to private ownership a heritage of posterity.
 An important and commendable step ! has just been taken by the state of New York in the purchase of Mount Marcy
 and other peaks of the Adirondacks at the very headwaters of the Hudson This Ipoicy should at once be continued until Ithe reservation reaches it's maximum ex- r. ent. Then the whole tract should be Administered under system which, while rguaranteeing private rights, will give the
 state supervision of the cutting of trees. 1.-The public health, the interests of agricul-
 ture, commerce and navigation in New
 York and Pennsylvania call imperatiVely | tor a large-minded and immediate con- | liberation of the whole subject. Be
 wise in time; tis madness to defer"