Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-01-18

was declared to be "anticipatory" anC
with a view of preventing the alb
sorption of power sites on this lane
by the alleged water-power trust.
Secretary Ballinger's commence
ment of service was marked by ar
order restoring this land to entry
1t was this act by the secretary tha
sent Pinchot scurrying to the presi
dent. On that visit the president as
sured him that Mr.. Ballinger planned
to again withdraw the land as speed
lily as possible. question Of the
legality Of President Roosevelt
withdrawal had been involved, 4
seemed, and Secretary Ballingel
to use the forestry bureau as weapor
sites, regardless Of the need for such
land Withdrawn for forestry purposes
He argued that the forestry servic,
was no more the proper weapon t
attain such an end than would have
been the naval service.
All within a month the transac
ton had been completed-the lanc
resorted to entry, certain tracts filed
upon, as alleged, and the land with
drawn again. In this Forester Pin
chot saw a victory for his much de-
tested power trust, whose actions hi!
heart was set upon anticipating.
precipitated his open quarrel with
Mr.. Ballinger.
The alleged filing that raised tn,
forester's ire was declared to have
been made at Bozeman, Mont, OF
June II, 1909, and 1t was said to in
clude 1858 acres, taken by jeremiah
Collins Pinchot was quoted as au
thority for a statement that Collin!
was land agent for the water-powel
trust, which, 1t was intimated in &
shadowy way, consisted Of the Harri'
man and H .aiiIo interests, the
General Electric company and the
Guggenheim mining and smelling in
terests. The alleged filing by Col
Inns had been made on the land tha
Roosevelt had withdrawn and tha
Ballinger had resorted to entry, anG
then had rewithdrawn. The rewith'
drawal was completed on June 26.
When Forester Pinchot carried 6
cry against Secretary Ballinger direct
to the president Mr.. Ballinger openly
declared that he knew 1t was his Off.
cial head Mr.. Pinchot was looking
for and that with the help of the
president he expected to win"
Before his break with Secretary
Ballinger Mr.. Pinchot had become
widely known as the man Of all mer
in the public service who was the
former presidents closest officia
friend. Some months before Mr.
Roosevelt retired, in fact 1t was
stated the post Of secretary Of the
fered to Mr.. Pinchot. The offer was
mot of fhof TINA form ollu
and after a time the matter Of dis.
cussing 1t was dropped.
Mr.. Roosevelt's enthusiasm for Mr.
Pinchot cropped out when he called
the first conference Of governors to
discuss the conservation problem. As
the result of power then vested ir
him he named his forester as chair.
man Of a general committee Of some
fifty members on conservation in gen.
eral, and also to be chairman of the
executive committee Of nine selected
from this general committee. 1t was
expected that that conservation com.
mittee would work out a policy fol
conservation in water, minerals and
forests. Some junkets in the
summer Of 1908 to Europe followed
its formation, and 1t made q report
at the opening Of the December ses.
sion Of congress in that year. Some
of its members also junketed through
the Appalachian forest, which II
was proposed the government should
buy.
The former forester Is the son OF
James w. Pinchot, a merchant, who
died about a year ago, leaving his
son an independent fortune. The
younger Finchot's interest in forestry
grew from the fact that his father
had been a wall paper manufacturer
and that while he was a boy his at
tention had been frequently called by
his father to the speed with which
the available supply Of timber was
being exhausted. Mr.. Pinchot was
born in Seabury, Conn.,, on Aug. IL
1865, Of Puritan and Huguenot stock
He took up the study Of forestry
1885 and continued 1t in France, Ger.
many, Switzerland and Austria, after
his graduation from Yale In 1889
hood he turned to forestation as g
field wherein to let his zeal have full
play, and for years after returning
from his European studies hi
kept an office as consulting forester
in New York. But nobody bothered
him with consultations, and finally
he found himself in a government
commission from which he emerged
in 1898 as head of the forestry bu.
reau. There were eleven men In the
bureau force at that time, six Of them
clerks. Last year the bureau brought
in $2,000,000 from the forests and
spent $3,368,532 When Pincho
took charge the bureau was spending
$28,250 a year and bringing in moth
ing. He was always forecasting 6
day when it would bring In much
more than the cost of keeping 1t up
and he instances a place where at ar
expense of 5000 some 100 forest fires
had been doused before they got g
good start. The forester did not draw
his salary as a government officer.
Forestry as a science in the United
States may be said to be Mr.. Pinchot's
creation. In Switzerland, where the
topography Of the country made Its
citizens peculiarly subject to damage
by avalanches, floods and erosion OF
the naked mountains, they learned to
see the value of the forest covering
some 1000 years ago. In the fifteenth
century forestation became a science
in Switzerland. and has remained sc
ever since. In France they are
spending about $34 an acre to re-
forest their watersheds, and in Italy
$40 an acre. Mr. Pinchot, after col
lecting data on Americas forests, fig
ured out that at the Italian rate II
would cost $3,000,00O,000 to reforest
the prevailing stands of timber on the
public lands of the United States II
continued deforestation should make
this move neceSSary
A few forest reserves had been cre-
ated by Grover Cleveland, and with
him the word reserve" had come into
use. Pinchot found the cattlemen OF
the west sticking on that word, and
he succeeded in having the name al
tered to national forest" 1t took the
sting out Of much Of the opposition
to the spread of the conservation
vogue, especially when 1t was also ex-
planned that any settler might take all
the timber he wanted for his own use
that any "ripe" tree could be cut with
the simple formality Of securing a
permit" and that only waste, mon
opoly and exploitation were being aim
ed at, so far as the stopping or the
regular work Of tree cutting was con-
cerned. The forest products were for
sale, and were for the settlers gratis
all each settler could cut for his
own use; but not to sell. Mr.. Pin
chot made, along with his statement
of the cost Of reforestation of the pres
ent stands, the additional claim that
properly "forested," the existing tim
Der could be kept in perpetuity, and