The Detroit times., 1911-11-25
CONSERvAT|ONISTS
GIVEN HARD JOLT
YW|LL|SL.MOORE
That Forests Aid in Preserving
Rainfall Is Declared
Fool Theory.
WEATHER BUREAU CHIEF
TALKS TO BUSINESS MEN
Says Land Should Be Devoted
To Producing Food Rather
Than Timber.

Willis l.. Moore, OF Washington,
chief OF the United States weather
bureau, was the guest OF honor at the
Board OF Commerce luncheon IN the
Cadillac hotel. Friday noon. The
speaker was introduced by President
Milton A. McRae, who mentioned the
Importance of The work OF the bureau
There were 400 members present. as
we'll as number OF high school
teachers, many OF them women.
Mr.. Moore described the work OF
the weather bureau and the extent or
the service.
There are more than 200 meteoro-
logical stations in the United States"
he said, and reports from 100 cities
are printed on the daily weather map.
Thirty-fve hundred villages receive
the weather forecast every morning,
and the reports are telephoned to
more than 100000 farm houses
throughout the country every day. In
400 cities, through the cooperation
OF public-spirited citizens, the temper
ature and rainfall are recorded daily
and sent in to Washington. We are
thus able to establish the climate for
every county In the United States. and
when the land boomer tries to sell
his land, We can tell the inquirer just
what the temperature and rainfall are
in the county in which he proposes TO
buy. and how 1t compares with the
conditions in his own County. While
land boomers are very apt TO lie about
their land, the weather bureau fire.
quently is able 10 help them sell 1t
by telling the plain truth.
"One Of the developments In the
scientific determination of the wealth
er Is the use of balloons which we
send up TO hight of Is miles above
the surface Of the earth with instru-
ments which automatically record the
temperatures"
Mr.. Moore described the atmos-
rheric conditions which bring storm
or cold waves and told instances OF
The use OF the weather service in en-
cheering enterprises and In every
line OF business, even In the defense
Of lawsuits.
"One of the greatest fallacies in
the public mind today. is the idea that
the climate is changing through the
influences OF settlement and civilIza-
ton" said Mr. Moore to The
Times previous 70 his address.
There has been instilled in the
minds of the people, the fear that the
cutting OF the forests will alter the
climate. decrease the rainfall and in
crease the floods, bringing alternate
drouth and inundation. The wnoie
thing is a fallacy and this is conclu-
sively demonstrated by government
records We have records for more
than 100 years in regions where there
has been considerable deforestation,
and the rainfall for the last 80 years
has been the same as for the first 80.
Our records of floods In the Ohio
basin show that they have not In
creased with the cutting away of the
forests. AS a matter of fact, the uper.
ations Of husbandry, blowing. cultiVat-
ing. etc. render the soil more pcrme.
able and create as good IL not better
conditions for the storage of moisture
than forests
1T Is unfortunate that a God-con-
secrated purpose and noble idea nave
TO face uncompromising Facts as
shown by the records of the bureau,
but the people should look to them
for the SClentlnc cTltlClsm VI hiio NV
about conservation.
Another pet anathema of the the
orists, is erosion. II is my opinion
that any mountain side that Is SO
steep that il cannot be cultivated
should be eroded and the properties
Of the soil made useful by being
washed down upon the plain where
they can be cultivated. Every acre
that can be made to yield food for the
people should be used for that pur-
nose and not devoted to timber grow.
ing for the sake of conserving ram
fall. II Is time that we had some
sense and sanity about conservation,
some scientific principles based upon
facts rather than fool theories oil the
stump-speaker.
What we need is restoration ana
conservation a protection OF the ma
tional resources from monopoly. true,
but scientific protection. We should
listen to the cold reason of the sclen-
fist rather than the wild-enthusiasm
of the fanatic"