The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1910-01-20

Growing Out or his Iondl-
ton, Declares Speaker.
Charlotte Observer, 10Th.
"This is an age OF high prices and
we have every reason to believe that
they have come to stay. 1t is there
fore, necessary for the producing
classes of the country to adjust them
selves to the problems growing out
Of high wage, for this, too, is per-
fixture with us now"
This was one of the innumberable
of philosophic sentences ut
tered during the splendid address
yesterday afternoon of DIR. Seaman
A. Knapp, head of the government
demonstration work in the South, be-
fore a large and representative audi
ence OF Mecklenburg farmers. The
address was one of a series which Dr.
Knapp is delivering in a number of
Southern States, his first speech hav-
ing been delivered Monday at Lynch
burg, Va. His subject yesterday was
"How to Make a State in Which the
Rural Masses Will Prosper"
''There are two ways to make a
great and prosperous Common
wealth." said the speaker "First,
for every man to do his best in his
appointed sphere, for the the farmer
to develop and perfect his farm and
make it profitable source of reve-
nue., delightful home, and from it |
Il no uv tba p,oopo tho+ mill ono hla h N, |
to meet his share of the expenditures
necessary to call into existence the
great public utilities for high civiliza-
tion. Under this plan every citizen
is bound to do his best and contribute
his share. From this standpoint
there must be no, looseness; NO idle
ness, rich or poor; no strikers, and
no squandering Of money for mere
pleasure without an ultimate good.
This plan discussed in Virginia. 1t
is the individual plan where labor
leads"
THE MORE MODERN AND COL
LECTIvE PLAN WHERE CAP
ITAL LEADS.
"The second plan in making a
great commonwealth is one in which
capital goes in advance. The great
railroads penetrate the country and
pave the way to settlement; the lands
are drained or irrigated, as the case
may be; great reservoirs are made at
the sources of streams; forest reser
voirs are established; water power
utilized and irrigation on many
tracts made possible.
There is "a third plan which is the
one which we have in part followed
and it should be properly called the
plan of wreckage. Turn the people
. loose on q fair domain to do as they
please without law or experience; val
uable timbers are destroyed, soils
are wasted, rivers are silted and filled
with debris. Finally the rainfall be-
comes irregular, great floods and
drouths follow. Everything is done
for temporary gain, regardless OF
the rights of posterity. 1t is not
too late to remedy this evil and let
us apply the remedy OF the second
plan-Jhe use of capital in making a
great State. The most expenditure
of capital is for the control OF the
water, both the rainfall and the soil
water. This we can treat under three
heads:
+ "1) Regulating the water supply
/ III the rivers, the great natural drain
age arteries.
!, "(2) Reservoirs at the sources OF
| the large and small streams.
"(3) Reforesting and conserving
the timber and willowing the small
streams.
'In order, that we may have some
| adequate comprehension OF trees,
call your attention to the experiment
of Valint. He found that single
oak 50 feet high, two feet and ten
inches in diameter, 80 inches from
the ground took from the ground
and passed into the atmosphere one
hundred and thirty-two tons OF water
in a season. An acre OF such trees
would take from the soil and pass
into the atmosphere five thousand
two hundred and eighty tons OF wa
ter during the leaf period and the
leaves in addition would retain npor
their surfaces about one-fourth O
the rainfall, making in all that th'
trees would dispose of about eight
and quarter inches over the entir'
surface. In addition the roots OF th,
trees add to the poresity of the sol
and enable large portion OF th'
water net disposed OF to be some
! what permanently retained by th'
soil. The evaporation from the sur
face of reservoirs and ponds aver
ages about ten to fourteen inche
/ during the five months from May Is
to October 1st Now this vast bod,
, of water sent up by the trees an'
taken from the reservoirs produce
an enormously cooling influence ol
the atmosphere so that they dis
charge the clouds and regulate tn
annual rainfall. The effect of thi
would be increased precipitation in tn
= warm weather and warmer in tn
, | winter and this means evaporation
1 because it requires a thousand de
grees of heat TO pass into vapor an
: "a freezing when the yapor passe
ieto solid it gives of a thousand dc
Sgrees of neat, consequently it great
modifies the temperature in sprin
and fall, and tends to make certai
: fruit conditions. 1t is the sudde
. changes, both spring and fall, tha
> are Injurious to the fruit crop"