Arizona republican., 1910-01-10
The Limit of Absurdity

One of the most prominent enemies of the governments policy of forest conservation, in a speech the other day reached the apparent limit of absurdity in speaking of the visible lumber supply With Forester Pin chot as the main object of his criti- cism. but assailing the whole policy of forest protection, he ridiculed the idea that there is any occasion to be concerned about the lumber supply Notwithstanding the we'll established fact that standing pine lumber is dis appearing at such a rate that there will be practically none for the next generation, and that all lumber bear ing forests are being destroyed, he had the cheek to tell his hearers that the quantity of growing timber is equal to all demands-that, in short, there is a new tree growing for every tree that falls under the lumberman's saws.
 Such a bare faced falsehood is worthy of notice only for the pur- pose of directing public attention to the absolute lack of conscience which distinguishes some of the men who find their business interfered with by the government in its efforts to protect the forests from wanton de- struction. To be sure, thousands of trees are growing on land which had been made a waste by the lumber hog and his follower. the forest fire but this is because the governments policy of re-planting and of protect ing forests from fire has been in operation several years.
 But another statement often made by these public enemies, made in the press, in public meetings, and even in congress, is more misleading, be- cause it sounds more plausible. This statement is. In suosta-ce, thai the forest reserves have been handled by such visionary cranks" that the gov ernment is permitting the forests to mature and go to waste instead of letting the people, have lumber therefrom for their needs Of course, the exact contrary is true. The gov ernment permits the cutting of tim Der in vast quantities from the fores; reserves. It requires only that the trees taken for lumber or other pur- poses. shall be the trees designated by agents of the forestry service. Only the mature trees are marked for cutting, and no waste is permitted, the operators are required to take such precautions in disposing of brush as to reduce the danger from fire to a. minimum.
 The government of the United States never did a wiser or more benificent thing than when it under took to protect the forests from spoli- ation. The time has arrived for the states to join the government in talk ing care of the timber supply; for, unhappily. the greatest waste of tim- Der has been by the owners of the land whence the timber was taken, and the public could not interfere Before many years we shall see a devastated simber lands and the re- planting of them. to timber by the states or the federal government. The dispatches report Mr/James D. Whip pie. the commissioner of forestry for the state of New York, as saying that five times as much wood is be- ing taken from the forests of that state each year as is growing up, and that if present conditions are permitted to continue there will be both a wood and a water famine. He believes that the people of New York 1 should plant for many years, begin l ming now. at least fifty million trees a year, and that the state should | acquire one million acres l of land in the Adirondacks and four i hundred thousand acres in the Cats kills in order to stop the destructive l work of lumbermen.
 And New York's forest commissions CT mentions a fact that is too widely | ignored-a timber famine in any coun- | try means water famine.