The Brattleboro reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1907-1912, 1908-05-15
..INExHAUsTIBLE RESOURCES

In discussing this week conference
between President Roosevelt ana the
yoyernors of the various states to con
slider the conservation of our natural
resources the Washington correspond
ent of the Springfield Republican out
lines clearly and with much force the
danger that turks in the application oil
the mistaken adjective "ineXhausti'
BILE" TO the natural resources OF the
country. Ii is pointed out that II the
present rate of consumption increases
Mt the rate shown by figures OF the
last IS years our supplies of anthracite
coal will last but 80 years and of BIZ
luminous coal but a little over loo
years. Coal mining as it is now ear
ried on is inconceivably wasteful ana
there is a similar spectacle of waste OF
other resources of mineral wealth. In
regard to forest slaughter and soil ero-
sion the Republican correspondent
says:
But the most serious and most men
acing situation of all is found In con
nection with our forests, for the prac-
teal exhaustion of our timber supplies
is almost imminent. The warning cry
which has been sent up is no mere
nightmare. The country is face to race
with situation of extreme granny
The lowest estimate reached by the
forest service for the timber now stand
ing in the United States is l4O0 bilhon
feet board measure; the highest 2oOo
billion. The present annual consump-
ton is approximately 100 billion feet
while the annual growth IS but one
third of the consumption, or from 81
TO 40 billion feet. Even accepting the
larger estimate of the standing TIM
her. that is 2O0O billion feet, and the
larger estimate of the annual growth,
that is 40 billion feet, and applying
the present rate of consumption, the
result shows probable duration OF our
timber supply of not more than %
years. Yet it is well nigh certain that
the rate of timber consumption Will
increase enormously in the future, as IL
has done in the past, and that unless
omething is done the day will be
FASTENED when we shall be face to face
with practical exhaustion. The results
of such exhaustion would be far more
serious and more wide-reaching than
the unthinking reader is likely to real
ize. The numbering business, now the
fourth greatest industry in the coun'
try, would disappear. But OF greater
Importance almost every other form of
industry would directly or indirectly
be affected. For example, the railroads,
having failed entirely to develop sat
isfactory substitute for the wooden tie,
would be affected profoundly, with the
result of increased cost of transporta'
ton to the public Examples might be
multiplied without end.
A question closely related to the de,
struction of the forests is the waste OF
the very soil itself 1t has now been
too clearly demonstrated for any in
telligent man to deny, that the destruc-
ton of the forests and the soft forest
carpet results in what is known as SOIL
erosion. The spring floods, instead OF
oozing off the hillsides comparatively
gradually, tear down unrestrained and
carry along quantities of soil, cutting
deep burrows in the earth S surface. In
1896 Professor Shaler of Harvard es-
timated that in the upland regions of
the states south of Pennsylvania 50oo
sduare miles of soil had been destroy
ed as the result of forest denudatlon
and that the destruction was then pro
ceeding at the rate of 100 square miles
of fertile soil each year. In addition
TO the actual loss of the soil thus car
ried away down the stream, it becomes
of itself a source of further damage
and expenses since it fills up channels
and impedes navigation. Some 40
wears ago, when the harm of soil ero-
sion was less appreciated than now and
/. when, comparatively speaking, the de-
structions of our forests had scarcely
begun, it was estimated by eminent en-
gineers that the Mississippi river in
each - months carried down 100000
600 tons of sediment, which is, rough
Iy speaking, about twice the entire
amount of material TO be excavated
from the Panama canal 1t has been
tersely declared by Clifford Pinchot
that "this material is the most fertile
portion of our richest fields transform
ed from blessing to curse by I'M
restricted erosion.
1t will be seen from the foregoing IN
stances that even the water of our
streams is not in any sense to be con-
sidered as an inexhaustible or even a
constant resource, unless steps be made
TO make it constant.
In view of the decision that the