The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1911-04-22
RESOURCES Of
GREAT FOREST
A Note OF Warning On The Policy
Of Forest Destruction
Sounded.

JdChsoHFiile, II ID, April Zl.-OOuHu-
ing note of warning at the policy of
forest destruction, (which we have
been following for so many years" lest
we find ourselves in the same condi-
ton as chose nations of Asia who like
ourselves, though for a longer time,
because longer time has been given
them, have constantly neglected the
great resources of forest with which
nature has endowed them,' Don Carlos
Ellis, chief of the division of education,
U. S. Forest Service, speaking before
the Conference for Education here
yesterday called attention to the press
dispatches which come year after year
from Asia telling of horror and dis
tress in the stricken districts which
were plaintively appealing to the
world for help. These conditions, he
declared, were caused by the defores-
tation of the slopes with the logical
consequence of floods in the lowlands
vallies being washed away.
Mr.. Ellis pleaded for the use, but
not the abuse of the forests, and
strongly urged the teaching of con-
servation in the schools. "You may
print conservation in the press, preach
it from the pulpit, disclaim it from the
rostrum, but unless you teach it in the
schools, it will die with the generation
that gave it birth"
The problem of teaching practical
conservation in the schools has already
been worked out, and, he said, more
than half the normal schools of the
country today are teaching forest
study in some form. my purpose is
solely to urge you to consider whether
the introduction of this subject in your
schools is not worth while, and wheth-
er by its introduction You may not
contribute something toward the de-
Of the rich resources and
industries of the region, toward max
ing this development a true and per.
manent one, and toward establishing
the new south as more prosperous,
a happier, and a better home"
After declaring that we are using
the forests three times as rapidly as
they are growing, he continued: "And
yet And no fault with the use of food.
Wood has been given to us to use.
1t is in the enormous, needless waste
going on all the time that fault lies.
From the time that the log leaves the
stump in the woods until it is put to
its final use by man only one-third
actually used, and then every year an
average of $5O,0OO,0OO worth is de-
stroyed by fire. Last year this losk
was even heavier"
AS a reason why the forests de-
manded special attention, he said, it
is, of all our resources, "the one which
is in imminent danger of exhaustion"
The forests of country are always
the resources to become scarce first
for it Is the resource which is easiest
to reach. 1t is Immediately at hand
awaiting, inviting, exploitation. In a
new country it is at first in the way
of agriculture and has to be fought
back with ak and fire, until the people
acquire the habit OF destroying it.
Then comes a turning point" he
said, beyond W ich such methods are
wasteful. We have passed far, far be-
yond that turning point, and yet have
barely awakened to the fact that we
are wasting our heritage, that we are
squandering one of the
greatest assets of our national wealth.
The Southern states, including Tex
as, and the border states of Maryland,
West Virginia and Kentucky, produce
almost as much lumber as all the 9TH
er states, three-fourths as much We