The Twin Falls times. [volume] (Twin Falls, Idaho) 1905-1916, 1912-04-02
PUBLIC OR PRIVATE INTERESTS?

PUBLIC OR PRIVATE INTERESTS
Governor De Witt Clinton frs
called attention to the public value O
the Adirondack forest nearly a centu
ry ago.. Since then the preservation
of the North Woods has become (;
subject of genuine concern to the PEG
pie OF New York. 1t is doubtful whe
Their any other like area OF forest il
the world is of SO great importance
to so many people The State of New
York has spent millions of dollars tc
acquire and hold the State lands in
the Adirondack Park, which now
amount to a million and half acres
Repeated efforts to protect the North
Woods against timber thieves. water
power grabbers, corrupt State officials
and other enemies have time after
time aroused the interest of practical
ly the whole State. Today the protec-
ton OF these mountain forests is an
article of faith with every good citizen
" t>OV Aoin n, anu With SOUND reason.
The destruction of the Adirondack
forests has gone on more rapidly DUR
ing the last ten years than during
any other decade in their history.
Public indifference to that fact is little
short of amazing. Most of the efforts
made to conserve the Adirondacks
hpva nj oh
dairy Importance while the destruction
itself went on unchecked.
1t would be difficult to find a man
woman or child in New York whom
this destruction does not affect. The
lumbermen of New York are of course
deeply interested in the North Woods.
1t is the control of these timber lands
which has made them prosperous.
They are closely allied with the manu-
facturers of paper, who depend on the
wood which the forests supply and the
streams which they sustain for raw
material of their trade and the power
which transforms it to the finished
per mills are doubly useless.
The interests of the water-power
men in the North Woods are as great
us they are direct Already about
eight hundred thousand horsepower
has been developed in the State Of
New York, while million more waits
to be harnessed for the benefit of our
people. ! may add incidentally that
certain politicians are Just now doing
their best to see that the people Get
as little out of its vast natural re-
sources, and the special interests as
much, as they can possibly manage.
Fishermen and hunters find in the
North Woods the goal of their desires.
and are deeply concerned in their
preservation. Thousands of health
seekers, eufferers from the
great white plague and others, owe
or hope to owe their return to bodily .
soundness and civic efficiency to the
North Woods. Here is one of their
greatest uses to the State. use which
is bound up with the life of the for
est
Every mill-owner on every stream
which flows out of the Adirondacks.
the shipping interests on every navig-
able river which heads in these noun
tains, every man who reads a news
paper printed on paper made of
spruce pulp, every business interest
occupied in supplying the needs of the
workers or distributing the product
of Industries which depend on the
North Woods, indeed every citizen of
the State, is dependent for a part of
his well-being on the safety of these
wonderful forests.
What is happening to this precious
possession of the whole people?
The Adirondack Park is bounded by
the so-called blue line" 1t contains
roughly. about three million acres
nall OF which is State land, half the
property of private owners. The for
ests ON the State land cannot be prop
erly protected or wisely used because ,