Daily Arizona silver belt., 1908-12-09

shown by those judges who scan tn,
 future while they act in the present
 Let them exercise this great power no
 only honestly and bravely, but witl wise insight into the needs and fxec
 purposes of the 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 pri
 vilege, which is the foe of right.
 | Forests
 If there is aGy one Glty which nor, than arother 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 first
 and most important element in the con-
 servation of the natural resources 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 exhaustion; this is true of mines, natural oil and gas wells,
 and the like.
 The other, of course ultimately by
 far the most important, includes the
 resources which can be improved in the process of wise use; the soil, the rivers, and the forests come under this head. Any really civilized nation will so use all of these three great national assets that the nation will have their benefit in the future. Just as the farm CT, after all his life making his living from is farm, will, if he is an expert farmer, leave it as an asset of increas- ed value to his son, so we should leave n at fA al, ,. creased in value and not to be worn out. There are small sections of our own country, in the east and in thr west, in the Adirondacks, the White Mountains, and the Appalachians, and n the Rocky Mountains, where we can already see for ourselves the damage in the shape of permanent injury to the soil and the river systems which comes from reckless deforestation.. It mat ters not whether this deforestation is due to the actual reckless cutting of
 timber, to the fires that invariably follow such reckless cutting of timber. or to reckless and uncontrolled grazing especially by the great migratory bands of sheep, the unchecked wandering of which over the country means destrue-
 
 home makers, the settlers of limited means.
 Shortsighted persons, or persons blinded to the future by desire to make money in every way out of the the present, sometimes speak as if no great damage would be done by the reckless destruction of our forests. It is difficult to have patience with the arguments of these persons. Thanks to our own reeklessness in the use of our splendid forests, we have already crossed the verge of 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. espec- tally 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 to the Mediterranean countries of Europe, Asia, and Africa by deforestation. The similar damage that has been done in Eastern Asia is less well known. A recent investi- gation into conditions in North China by Mir. Frank N. Myer, of the bureau of plant industry of the United States Department of Agriculture, has incl dentally furnished in very striking fashion proof of the ruin that comes from reckless deforestation of moun- tains, and of the further fact that dam aget once done may prove practically irreparable. So important are these investigations that 1 herewith attach an appendix to my message certain showing present conditions in China. They show in vivid fashion shape of barren mountains and gravel and sand-covered plains, which immedi- ately follows and depends upon the deforestation of the mountains. Not many centuries ago the country of northern China was one of the most fertile and beautiful spots in the en- tire world, and was heavily forested We know this not only from the old Chimes records, but from the accounts given by the traveller, Marco Polo. He, tor instance, mentions that in vifit the provinces of Shansi and Shens he observed many plantations of mulberry trees. Now there is hardly single tree in either of these prov inces. and the culture of the silkworm has moved further south, to regions of moisture. As an illustra- ton of the complete change in the riv eers, we may take Polo 's statement that certain river, the Hun Ho, was 30 large and deep that merchants as cended it from the sea with heavily aden boats; today this river is simply l broad sandy bed, with shallow. rapid | wandering hither and thither across it, absolutely uunavigablc. But we do not have to depend upon written records. The dry wells, and the wells ! with water far below the former water mark, bear testimony to the good days )f the past and the evil days of the l present. Wherever the native vege- ,ation has been allowed to remain, as, for instance, here and there around sacred temple or imperial burying i ground. there are still huge trees and | angled jungle, fragments of the glori ! nus ancient forests. The thick, matted | 'orest growth formerly covered the i