Evening star., 1909-08-29
FORESTRY SQUABBLE BOILS
Proof of Concealment of Timber
Facts Demanded.
FALLS BACK ON ROOSEVELT
Associate Forester Also Charges
Assistant Secretary With De-
moralizing Service.

"Untrue In all it's parts, both as to
the existence OF such facts and also as
to their cOncealment."
Such was the response Of Associate
Forester Overton W. Price to the
charge made yesterday by Assistant
Secretary McHar@ Of the Department
Of Commerce End Labor thnt the for
estry bureau IL conceaiing facts re-
Earding the timber supply.
Mr.. Price has added another highly in
teresting chapter in the conservation con-
troversy that has been wasing this sum-
mer in government circles. His CHAR
acterizaton of Mr.. McHarg's assertions
formed part OF general statement by
Mr. Price.
That this baseless charge should be
made by public servant in high office.
said Mr.. Price. lis against the public IN
terest and demoraliZing to the public
service If Mr.. McHarg's statement is
true he will in his own interest and in
the public interest establish it's truth con-
clusively and at once.
II shall gladly cooperate with him in
lending all aid possible in an investigation
of the records of this service The rec
ords of the bureau Of the census and of
the bureau Of corporations he can COM
mand without my cooperation. If Mr..
McHarg's statement is untrue through er-
ror he will in his own interest and in the
public interest SO state, and at once"
Calls McHarg Charges ''Deplorable"
Declaring it to be ''deplorable and Sig
nificant that the assistant secretary Of
commerce and labor, If he be quoted COR
rectly, should select this time Of all others
to make a statement which impusns the
integrity Of the forestry service" Mr..
Price declared that lit is against the sum
Of human experience and is dsproved not
merely by records here, but by those of
two bureaus of the department over
which Mr.. McHarg presides.'
Continuing. he said:
I'VE take from our forests each year. not
counting the loss by fire. three and half
times their yearly growth. We take ~
cubic feet per acre for each II cubic feet
grown; We take 260 cubic feet per capita
while Germany uses 81 cubic feet and
fires have each year destroyed an average
Of $5OOOO.OOO worth of timber. The young
growth destroyed by fire is worth far more
than the merchantable timber burned. An
used for each 1000 feet that stood in the
forest.
Must Have Timber.
And year by year. through careless
cutting and fires, we lower the capacity of
existing forests to produce their like again
or totally destroy them. The condition OF
the world supply Of timber makes us de-
pendent upon what We produce. We send
out Of our country one and half times
as much timber as we bring in. Except
for finishing woods relatively Insignificant
in quantity. we must grow our own supply
or go without
logging is impossible under the forestry
regulations, Mr.. Price said:
The forest service is selling yearly
from the national forests about $1.O00,O0C
worth Of mature timber. This timber is
purcha Sed by lumbermen at the market
price, is logged under regulations of the
forest service, which prescribe that only
designated trees be cut, that brush be dis
posed of as safeguard against forest
fires and that young growth be protected
in logging.
within the past month. applications
to purchase over 10000, 900 feet, board
measure, have been received from lum-
bernen, many of whom are already pur-
chasers Of national forest timber and
all of whom are thoroughly familiar
with the methods under which it must
be cut"
Relies on Roosevelt.
Mr. Price also referred to Mr.. Nc
HaIss ridicule OF the charge that there
exist combinations to control water
power sites, saying:
This service is deeply concerned in
tNe SIONu Oh MdlSi-
power since within national forests are
power sites. in part utilized and in part
not yet utilized, with the regulation of
whose use in the public interest the
forest service is charged. Mr.. McHarg S
statement in this connection Is directly
at variance with the message of Presi-
dent Roosevelt of January Is. 1909 to
the House of Representatives, vetoing a
bill for the construction of a dam across
the James river, in Stone county. No."