New-York tribune., 1910-01-19
MOORE VS.. PINCHOT
WEATHER MANS FOR
ESTRY TIEWS.
Denies That Deforestation
Causes Floods and
DrOuths.
tFrom The Tribune Bureau.l

the F0reSt bureau, uOueF tne uHeClloi VI
Clifford Pinchot. is contained in report
just prepared by Professor Willis l.. Moore,
chief of the Weather Bureau, for the House
Committee on Agriculture So widespread
has been the dissemination of these theories
and so positive their Endorsement that the
convictions expressed by Professor Moore
after several years of special study and in
yestigation, are OF much interest. Incl
dentally they throw a new light on the
policy of conservation.
The most important conclusions reached
by Professor Moore, and those which are
more directly at variance with the known
views of the officials who until recently mad
charge Of the Forestry Bureau, are as
follows:
Any marked climatic changes that have
taken place are universal, not local. ana
evidence is strong that the cutting away OF
the forests has had nothing to do with Gre
ating or augmenting drouths.
Precipitation controls forestation. but
forestation has little or no effect on pre-
cipitation
Spring floods come oftener from the for
est than from the open.
The disastrous effects of soil erosion ap-
pear to have been exaggerated, and erosion
is not always an unmixed evil.
Floods are no more frequent than for
merly and OF no longer duration.
These propositions are diametrically op-
posed to the gospel of forest conservation
as preached by Mir. Pinchot and his dis
ciples-a gospel which has been promul-
gated practically without effective contra
diction for many years.
Mr.. Moore in his report expresses his in
tense interest in the conservation move
ment, and declares that it is one of the
most essential attributes of a great and
growing country, but he bases his en-
thusiasm not on the effect of deforestatiou
on floods and drouths but on the demand
for lumber. He holds that the Forestry
Bureau should see that there is enough
lumber to supply the demand, and that
there IS sufficient reforestation to assure
lumber for coming generations, but he in
sists that soil which is better adapted to
raising crops than trees should not be in
cluded in forest reserves.
PROFESSOR MOORE'S REPORT.
Mr.. Moore was requested by the Com
mittee on Agriculture last year to continue
his studies as to the effect of forests on
Climate and on floods. He was asked to
give Eis opinion from the point of view of
I the meteorologist. and he has done so in
voluminous report which is replete with
statistical data. In part, Mr. Moore's OBJ
servations are as follows:
Much has been written on conservation
put httle has come from the meteoroIo-
glsts who have been for years engaged in
the measurement of precipitation upon
: various catch basins, determining the
EelSnt OF streams and rivers, estimating
the area, scope and permea bility of water
sheds and forecasting river stages both of
. H0Hd to1s heights and low, waters: We are
told, ana II seems to be largely believed
by all except those who are daily engaged
In the study of precipitation data and the
movement of waters, that forests control
fhe HOW OF streams and that the climate
is so materially affected by the cutting
away of the forests that drouths have
largely increased and the Wellbeing of fut-
IRE generations seriously is menaced
Ihere are so many reasons why the for
ests should be protected by the state and
nation that 1T is doing an injury to a good
cause TO attempt to bring to it's support
the false reasoning and the mistaken con-
cluslons of enthusiasts no matter how
we'll meaning they may be or how devoted
TO high and lofty purposes. The forested
land Yields not a handful of wheat and
corn and makes but a Wretched substitute
for pasture upon which to feed the mich
COW and beef cattle. These conflicting in
children for meat and bread, and the cry
of the country for lumber. which only a
woodland can furnish, would. If there were
no other interests to modify the result
somewhere find an inevitable balance But
just as the body is more important than
raiment. so is food more important than
its shelter, and therefore in every country
the general tendency with growth OF pop
ulation rs to convert forest lands into cuI-
tiVated fields, and this tendency should
not be discouraged unless it can be shown
that deforestation has augmented drouths
and foods, and l believe that it cannot be
that forests should be preserved for them,
selves alone, or not at all.
The average r I virgin forest is wasteful as
there Tree Is 1ound OF proper growth and
suitable species for first class material.
From this Mr.. Moore draws the conclu-
sion that if greater care were exercised in
the cultivation of forests as to species and
distribution the returns would be equal to
what are now obtained, and there would
be no valid objection to decreasing the area
where "homes and a well fed people take
the place of wild animals and wilderness.
He continues:
There appears to be plenty OF evidence
that there have been times in the remote
past when the salt seas OF Asia and Amer
lea had surfaces of greatly increased size
There is also evidence that in certain of
these regions trees once grew more abun-
dantly than is now the case This. how
ever, must not be taken as proof that there
has been decrease of rainfall due to de-
forestation. It is true. forests have dimin-
ished, and II is also true that evidence
strongly supports decreases in rainfall, and
therefore a greater or less change of eli
might better be regarded as the cause
rather than the result of the barren CON
ddition of the soil. There is no evidence that
the forests were ever more extensive in
Alaska and in other high latitude countries
than they now are. Here there is evidence
of the same slow climatic change-a change
that cannot be due to deforestation What
ever marked climatic changes take place
they are essentially universal and not local
HIS VIEWS SUPPORTED.
In these conclusions Professor Moore is
borne out by Professor w. j. Humphreys
meteorological physicist from Johns Hop
kins University. and Professor Ellsworth
huntington meteorologist a. the Euphrates
University, Turkey. The report adds:
The fact that dead forests stand long
after the streams have receded seems 10
prove that they are the last to disappear
rather than the first and therefore that
their removal did not precede the druuth
but rather that the forests ceased to exist
when rainfall became deficient. Professor
Cleveland Abbe says ON this point: "The
idea that forests either increase or de-
crease the quantity of rain is not worthy
to be, entertained by rational. intelligent
men,"
On the whole it is proba BILE that forests
have little to do with the high floods i'm the
main trloutarles and principal streams
since they occur only as the result of eX-
tensive and heavy rains after the ground
Is everywhere saturated or when heavy
warm rains come on top of deNp snow,
our rainfall is the result of such funda,
mentally great causes not TO be ap-
preciapiy anected by the planting or cut
ting away or Forests, by any of the
operations Of man in changing the char
acter of the surfaces covering the con-
tinent.
The conclusions which Professor Moore