Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1911-08-31

~,
II.
U@N much has been said and II
! !; : ! !: !
" NWAX written in recent years
N ~0@ about the woeful waste of
1XA " the logging and numbering
Ana methods pursued in the
WH/ United States that the
NN average person without
(AWKl very intimate knowledge N
HW feels sure that the case
Mn ~ must be exaggerated. And
Han in some degree he is ~
XWNsW right. Great as have been
= the sins of the timber har- III
-- vesters who have gar
nered the wealth of our w
forests with a free hand, they W.
have scarcely been guilty in the N
measure that has been charged in
some quarters. And, moreover. there
is no doubt but that In most cases the
prodigal policy has been the result of
ignorance rather than prompted by q
wanton spirit as some of the critics
would have us believe
The general public has heard most
regarding the wastefulness and extravaganza
of American methods of numbering since the
development within the past few years of the
movement in behalf of the conservation Of our
natural resources However. for years before
tnaL crusade began, anu Win TeuOuDleu energy
since, returned European travellers have been
excaiming upon the contrast between forestry
methods in the old world and the new. Now.
it has been very impressive to hear how in
France and Germany great forests are cult
waited with the care of a well-ordered garden,
and how even the twigs that fall from the
trees are picked up and sold for fuel but as
a matter of fact the boosted German methods
of forestry would not be at all suited to the
United States
However, for ali that. as has been limited,
there are two sides to this question OF the
wasteful American methods of numbering the
fact remains that our people have not made
the most Of the priceless heritage of our for
ests. Nor has all the fault in this respect
been at the door of the professional lumber
men who, given seemingly almost inexhaust-
able source of supply, naturally gained con-
tempt for small sources OF waste. In some
measure responsible, also, have been the
farmers who were the pioneers in the settle
ment Of the various sections OF our country
Eager to clear the land they had taken up and
to get to the actual work of tilling the SOIL
these settlers were prone In many instances
to think only of the quickest and cheapest
ways Of getting rid Of the timber. In many
cases they took pains to get the most out
the standing timber or to so cut 1t that
maximum yield would be insured.
8f IL is the professional lumDermen who have
hguratively speaking, slashed right and left
without much regard to consequences in get
ting out their timber Trees have been felled
without the proper regard to the damage done
to other forest monarchs in the crash of the
heavy trunks to earth, and logs have been
'snaked" or dragged out of the forest with
few, II any, precautions against damage to the
young growth--the source of the lumber sup
ply Of tomorrow. Added to these, and worse
than all else In effect is the deadly destruc-
ton wrought by forest fires These wholesale
annihilations of standing timber have been
largely traceable to human carelessness and
shortsightedness- in extinguish.
ing camp fires and other forms of human neg
iigence that precipitate the fires, and short
sightedness in not providing adequate alarm
systems and fire-fghting facilities to combat
the flames, once they have gained Roadway.
very spectacular form of lumber waste
and one that never fails to astound Europeans
who tour the United States, is the lavish use
made Of marketable timber in providing facil-
tiles for logging operations. In the states of
Oregon and Washington, for instance, there
may be seen in the lumber regions ponderous
bridges, the piers of which are formed from
crossed logs placed criss-cross on top of one
another II is no exaggeraton to say that
such bridge contains the makings of lumber
sufficient to build all the houses and other
frame structures In goodsized village. An
other utility Of the American logging system