The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1912-04-11
In the South from MANY
Points of View as Point
ed Out Clearly.

WASHINGTON, D. c.. Aprif;n1-
The first session Of the forestry
conference held in connection with
the Nashville meeting Of the South
Iern Commercial Congress was
opened on the afternoon OF
April g. The presiding oficer was
Henry s. Graves, chief forester Of
the United States Department OF
Agriculture. In opening the confer
ence Mr.. Graves spoke as follows:
siIn my consideration Of the indus
trial development of the South, the
problems which stand out as most
important are those connected with
agriculture and forestry. The
South is favored with climate and
soil especially advantageous both for
agriculture and for the production
ofests. It's cut of lumber aggregates
some twenty-four billion feet a year,
or over half that is used IN the en-
tire nation. Other industries bring
the value of the products OF the for
ests today to upwards of55O million
dollars.
Louisiana now stands second
Ienly to the state of washington in
the production of lumber, while
Mississippi, North Carolina, Arkans
sas, Virginia and Texas are all
ahead of any other state. The. lum-
Der industry Of the South employs
some '217. OO0I persons, and the allied
Industries require over 200, 600
more. We are dealing with prob
lem OF gigantic proportions and one
which touches the welfare of the en-
tire nation.
at is of vital Importance to the
South that the land suitable to agri-
culture be devoted to that purpose
and just as rapidly as possible be
actually used for the growing of
crops. There is, however, vast
area of land, some of. it in great
! blocks in the mountains and else
where, and some in small patches
within the agricultural areas, which
is suited only to the growth of
trees. Many persons point to great
floods like those we are now having
and insist that forests have Moth
ing whatever'to do with the control
of water. This Is as absurd as would
Fbe statement that forests abso-
tlutelyS prevent large floods. They
Iare, however, only one factor and
may be. entirely overbalanced by
other factors like long continued
rainfall or sudden thawing Of snow
in the mountains. The Geological
Survey is developing some very i'm
portant and. interesting facts
regarding the influence of forests on
erosion in the South.
Our problem touches the method
of handling the forest in a way to
benefit the South permanently. The
bulk of what is put ON the market
is from timber 1850 years old and
upwards. The cutting takes place
without reference to a new crop of
trees and we still have that greatest
enemy of the forest, fire, which pre-
vents the establishment of new
growth. Moreover, the forest fires
are primarily responsible for the
damage resulting from erosion and
disturbances of stream flow in the
mountains Unless there is a cor
rection Of the existing conditions
the supply of forest products will not
be maintained, local industries will
decline or vanish, land values win
be permanently reduced, and the
benefits arising from the mere exist
ence of well managed forests will be
lost. with unfortunate results.
There is no region except the
far Northwest where forestry is so
simple and the. results so sure as in
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