Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-03-31
FORESTS AND WATERWAYS.
Subject of Tremendous Importance on
Which Public Interest Should Be
Awakened,

Subject of Tremendous Importance on
Which Public Interest Should Be
Awakened.
On January Both a hearing on the
Appalachian White Mountain bill was
had before the committee on agricul-
ture of the house Of representatives.
The occasion was a notable one. There
were present about two hundred bus
mess men, representing twenty states,
and hundreds Of business and other
organizations. At the head of the del
legation were Governors Smith Of
Georgia and Floyd of New Hampshire.
All Of the evidence presented was on
the high plane Of expert testimony. The
need for national forests in the two
regions for the preservation Of timber
supply, the protection Of water pow
ers, and the maintenance of navigation
was ably presented by the men most
competent to speak on each phase of
the question. By the public declara-
ton of the chairman, Hon. Charles F.
Scott, the committee were deeply i'm
pressed with the importance Of the
measure.
Governor Smith, who had charge of
the presentation. said: Preservation
Of these forests is absolutely essential
for the future prosperity Of the states
reaching from Maine to Alabama. The
problem cannot be handled by the
states, nor by individuals, because a
forest is commonly in one state, and
the rivers and harbors affected by it in
other states. The forest supplies the
natural reservoir for the water that
gives navigation at the mouth Of the
Savannah river: but this forest is not
in Georgia nor South Carolina, but in
the mountains Of North Carolina" The
governor declared that. though himself
a strict constructionist the constitu-
tional power Of congress, in such a
case. was to him clear
Governor Smith presented a collec-
ton of resolutions favoring the Appa-
bodies, organized and unorganized, ex-
tending from New Hampshire to Geor-
gia, and as far west as Wisconsin and
Michigan.
A resolution was presented from the
South Carolina legislature, instructing
the representatives from that state to
support the Appalachian forest bill.
Congressman Ramsdell, president Of
the River and Harbors congress, at
tended the hearing. He said he agreed
with the French ambassador-no for
ests. no rivers.
Mr.. Clifford Pichot, United States
forester, stated that the country is on
the verge of a timber famine, that the
timber supply will last barely thirty
years, that the hardwood surp.E Is
much near exhaustion than the
soft wood supply, and our only source
Of hardwood now is the Appalachian
region.
On deforestation and floods, he
said: Il have stood with one foot on
EACH side of a little brook and washed
my hands and face in it in the sum-
mer time, when the water was low;
and this same brook, which had its
head in the steep slopes on which the
forest had been destroyed, had, during
floods, carried and piled up hemlock
logs three feet through and twenty
feet long in windows and had moved
boulders of many tons in weight This
was simply because of the deforesta-
tion of this steep watershed with
uniform grading
Mr.. Plnchot stated that our national
forests are self-supporting, and will, as
in Germany, yield revenue. The APP
palachian forests which he has per-
sonally known for seventeen years,
will be valuable investment for the
government.
Society for Protection of New Hamp-
shire forests, said the White Mountains
produce spruce pulp which is limited
in the area Of its growth. Stopping
throughout the United States. There
is danger of this stoppage because Of
the destructive methods of cutting.
The operators cut not only the trees
they want, but frequently all the 9TH
ers, that logs may be more easily re-
moved. Thus the mountain sides are
denuded. If some trees are left. they
are usually wind thrown. Fire fol-
lows, destroying the young growth and
even the soil itself. This puts back
the growth from one hundred to three
hundred years. In many cases, where
the soil erodes away, it will be impos-
sible to get another forest until anoth-
er ice age shall come and establish the
beginnings Of a new fertility.
George +. Swain, professor Of civil
engineering in the Massachusetts, In
stitute Of Technology, member of the
Boston Transit commission. and official
representative Of the state Of Massa-
chusetts, said:
THE Society Of Civil Engineers has
DSpu very CbllScl NOllNt hSNNi
before memOralized congress in any
way. The engineers are very appre-
hensive with reference to the timber
supply They have been trying to find
substitute, and concrete has come in
to very wide use, but the question
timber Is still an exceedingly import
ant one to engineers. We want these
forests for the sake Of the timber sup
ply and for the regulation Of the riv-
erS
The Importance Of water power to
New England need hardly be empha-
sized. New England has few
natural resources; it has no mines Of
precious metals, no copper. coal, or
agriculture, but it has its forests,
streams and manufactures. The man
ufactures Of New England and all the
large towns grew up because Of the
water powers. Along the streams
draining the area of the proposed ma
tional forest in the White Mountains
it is estimated that 250,0O0 horse pow
er are developed. and there is perhaps