The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-12-09
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE READ
Continued from Page 9.

out is fraught with risk II is far better.
from every standpoint that the remedy
should come from within In no other ma
ton in the world do the courts WELD such
vast ana fa--reaching power as in the
United States. All that is necessary is
that the courts a whole should exer-
else this power with the farsighted 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 bravely, but
with wise insight into the needs and fixed
purposes OF the people, so that they may
may protect all persons in their rights.
and yet break down the barriers of privi-
lege' which is the foe of right
Forests.
If there is any one duty which more
than another we owe it to our children and
lour children's children TO perform at once.
" is to save the forests of this country.
Tor they constitute the first ard most i'm
portant element in the conservation of the
natural resources of the country There
are, OF course, two kinds of natural re-
sources. One is the kind which can only
be used al part-of a process of exhaustion;
this Is true of mines, natural oil and gas
| wells and the like. The other, and of
course ultimately by far the most i'm
| portant, 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 ma
!
assets that the nation will have their ben
| eft in the future Just as farmer, after
! all his life making his living from his
! farm, Will, if he is an expert farmer,
4 leave II as an asset of increased value 20
| his son. so we should leave our national
/ domain to our children increased in value
and not worn out There are small sec
tons Of our country. in the east 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 reck-
] less deforeStatiOn. 1t matters not wheth-
err this deforestation is due to the actual
| reckless cutting of timber. to the fires
/ that inevitably follow >such reckless cut
/ ting or timber, or to reckless and uncOn-
| trolled grazing, especially by the great
migratory bands OF sheep. the unchecked
wandering OF which over the country
means destruction to forests and disaster
/ to the small home makers, the settlers of
/ limited means.
! Sho~tsighted persons. or persons blinded
( to the future by desire to make money in
every way out of the present sometimes
speak as if no great damage. would be
forests. IL is difficult TO Lave patience
with the arguments of these persons.
| Thanks to our own reckleSSness in the use
of our splendid forests, we have already
| crossed the verge of a timber famine in
this country, End no measures that We
now take can, at least for many years.
undo the mischief that has already been
done But we can prevent further mis-
chief being done; and it would be IN the
highest degree reprehensible TO let an
consideration of temporary convenience OF
temporary cost interfere with such action.
especially as regards the national forests
which the nation can now. at this very
moment. control
Havoc in Europe.
All serious students of the question are
aware of the great damage tf.at has been
done in the Mediterranean countries OF
Europe, Asia and Africa by defoTestatiCn.
The similar damage that has been done III
eastern Asia is less well known. Il recent
Investigation into conditions in north
China by Mr.. Frank y. Meyer of the bU-
reau of plant industry of the United States
department of agriculture has incidentally
furnished in very striking fashion proof
of the ruin that comes from reckless de-
forestation of mountains, and of the fur
Their fact that the damage once done may
prove practically irreparable So impoY-
tant are these investigations that I herr
! with attach as an appendix TO my mes
sage certain photographs showing present
conditions in China. They show in vivid
| fashion the appalling desoiatiOn. taking
the shape of barren mountains and gravel
and Sand-cOVered plains, which immedi-
ately follows and depends upon the de
fOreStatiOn of the mountains. Not many
centuries 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 traveller.
Marco Polo. He. for instance. mentions
that in visiting the provinces of Shans
and Shensi he observed many plantations
of mulberry trees. Now there is hardly "A
single mulberry tree in either of these
provinces. ard the culture Of the sillxwofm
has moved farther south. TO regions of at
mospheric moisture. AS an Illustration of
the complete change in the rivers. we may
take Polos statement that 4 certain river,
the Hun Ho, was so large and deep that
merchants assembled it from the sea with
heavily laden boats; today this river is
simply broad. sandy bed. with shallow.
rapid currents wandering hither and thith-
er across il. absolutely unnavigable. But
we do not have to depend upon written
records. The dry wells and the wells with
water far below the former waterTnark.
bear testimony to the good days o. the
past and the evil days of the present.
Wherever the native vegetation has been
allowed to remain, as, for instance. here
and there around a sacred temple or I'M
perial burying ground, there are still huge
trees and tangled jungle. fragments of the
glorious ancient forests. The thick. matted
forest growth formerly covered the NOM
tains to their SUBMITS. All natural tac-
tors favored this dense forest growth, and
as long as it was permitted to exist, the
plains at the foot of the mountains were
among the most fertile ON the glODe and
the whole country was garden. Not the
slightest effort was made, however, 10
prevent the unchecked cutting OF the II eeS,
or to secure reforestation. Doubtless for
many centuries the tree-cutting by the in
habitants of the mountains worked but
slowly in bringing about the changes that
have now come to pass; doubtless Sor gen
erations the inrOadS were scarcely notioe-
able. But there came a time when the
forest had shrunk sufficiently to make
each years cutting a serious matter. ard
from that time on the destruction yro-
ceeded with appalling rapidity; fer of
course each year of destruction rendered
the forest less able 10 recuDerata, less
able to resist next years inroad Mr..
Meyer describes the ceaseless progress of
the destruction even now, when there is
so little left to destroy. Every morning
men and boys go OUT armed with mattox
or AK scale the steepest mountain Sides
and cut down and grub out, root and
branch. the small trees and shrubs still
TO be found. The big trees disappeared
centuries ago, so that now one of these is
never seen save in the nefghborhood of
temples, where they are artificially pro-
tected and even here it takes all the
watch and care of the tree-loving priests 10
prevent their destruction. Each family,
each community, where there is no COM
mon care exercised in the interest of all
of them to prevent deforestation. finds it's.
profit in the immediate use of the fuel
which would otherwise be used by some
other family or some other community.
In the total absence of regulation of the