Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-01-13
Soon Be as Scarce, Says Sec
rotary Wilson.
WARN FORESTRY WORKERS
Something Must Be Done at Once to
Protect Growth.
NO USE WAITING ON CONGRESS
Time to Act Is Now, He Tells Mem
beers of American Association
in Session Today.

..The time is coming ir this country
when trees will be as scarce as diamonds
unless immediate steps are taken 10 pre-
serve our forests
This was the dark picture painted III an
address by Secretary of Agriculture VIII
son at the twenty-eighth annual meeting
of the American Forestry Association held
at the Willard today. The Secretary de-
clared that our forest growth is getting
scarcer and scarcer every day. and that
we are using three times much wood
as we are growing
do not let us sit down and make faces
at Congress- continued the Secretary,
because that body has not yet seen tit to
provide for the Appalachian and White
mountain forest reserves. We must not
depend too much upon Congress- What
we want is a reforestation OF the country
at the rate of about one-quarter of mil
lion acres each year.
Secretary Wilson emphasized the I'M
portance of the states the various asso-
Citations and individuals in helping to
solve the problem by planting trees in de-
nuded places.
DR.. Hale's Solution.
Rev DR.. Edward Everett Hale, chap
lain of the Senate and vice president OF
the Forestry Association. offered this as
solution of the problem: stop denuda-
ton; plant trees. and make the people
who own the funds for the future invest
them in forests
w s. Harvey of Philadelphia. acting
president. presided. There was the annual
report from the board of directors and
a number of short talks by Prof. Wills of
Massachusetts,, DR.. ]. T. Rothrock or
Pennsylvania, DR.. George Cook and
others.
One of the matters in which the asso-
citation is greatly interested is the repeal
| of the stone and timber act. 1t was ex-
planned by the chairman that the law
| for the repeal of this act had been passed
| three times by the Senate, but that the
association had never been able to get 1t
| through the House. By this act in four
years land to the amount Of $13.OOO,OCO
| had been disposed of. while the real
value of the timber involved was $780,
100000. In the same line 1t was sug-
gested that the tax laws of the states
| were defective in putting a tax on trees
| planted and thus prohibiting the refor-
| estation of denuded areas, while 1t was
| agreed that the right way would be to
| encourage tree planting by renting all
taxes from land that was so reforested.
Prevention of Fires.
| At the meeting this afternoon there was
a general discussion of forest fires and
the best methods of prevention. Prof.
| Chapman of the Yale Forest School, Al
fred Gaskill state forester of New Jer
sey; DR.. Schenck of the Biltmore estate
and other speakers took part in the dis.
! cussion. The general opinion was tina
there should be uniform fire laws in the
| various states and that public opinion
should be aroused for their strictfenforce-
ment.
The discussion tonight will deal chiefly
. with waterways and deforeStatiOn. The
argument will point to the necessity Of
the government acquiring forests in the
White mountains and the southern APP
palachians. Representative J. f. Rams
dell. president of the rivers and harbor:
congress. will speak on forests and inlanC
! waterways, and Bailey Willis of the geo
logical survey will give an illustrated tall
on some effects of deforestation. Mr.. Viii
lis has made a special study of this sub
iect for the government and has accumu
lated a large collection of beautiful Ian
tern slides covering the whole subject.
Forests and River Flow.
One Of the objects of this section OF TIL
meeting will be to show the intimate con
nection between forests and river flow
1t has been held by some of the court
that the project for the purchase of for
ests in the White mountains and tn
southern Appalachians was uncOnstitu
tional unless il were shown that it had
, direct bearing on interstate commerce
The fact that It has a most lntimat
connection owing to the effect on water
ways was SO patent to the members c
, the association that they had scarcely cor
, sidered the phase of the subject till tn
objection was raised, and the Two talR
: tonight will both tend to show the absC
s lutte dependence of the lower reaches G
y navigable streams on the proper flores