Albuquerque evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1911-1914, 1912-03-25
FALSE ECONOMY IS
REAL PERIL SAYS
Mr.. PINCHOT
President Of National ConseI-
walton Association Arraigns
Congress for Failure to Pro-
tect Timber.
tspeeInl CorFespeu.Irnee 10 she IleraIdl

Especial CorFespousIrnce 90 else Heraldl
Washington. d. c.. March 22Ar.
faigning congress for its failure to
provide sufficient appropriation 20
fully protect the timber ON the ma
tional forests President Clifford PIN
chot OF she National Conservation
association has issued The following
statement:
The agricultural bill has just pass.
ed the house OF representatives. 10
contains a reduction OF over one mill
Hon dollars from the present appro-
priatiOn for the forest service, and
this cut Is made almost wholly from
the fands available to prevent and
fight forest fires. The current appro-
priation OF $500, 0O0 for building roads.
trails aud telephone lines needed 10
call and GET men quickly to the fires
Is reduced 70 s275.0e0. and of the
emergency fund OF 81 100000 for
fighting forest fires only one.fifth re-
mains The house, By vote of seven
ty-four TO seventy, restored the S22a.-
600 cut from the appropriation for
roads, trails and telephone lines; hut
on The nnal reading OF the bill, the
amendment for this increase was de-
feated
These cuts are made in the face Of
the record of 1910, in which seventy
nine fire fighters and twenty-five set
Tiers were burned to death IN che ma
tional forests and twelve million dol.
lars worth of timber was destroyed;
and In the face OF full knowledge,
that as the result of insufficient ap-
preparation. the national forests,
which constitute about two billion
dollars worth of public property, are
in grave danger OF even greater loss
from fire
The protection of public property
and OF the lives Of settlers, thUir
wives and their children. as well o.
of the public servants within the ma
tional forests. lies close 10 the public
welfare II 10 easy TO maliEn the Tor
est service as certain members oi
congress are accustomed go d6. But
il IS much easier To malign the forest
ranger than Il IL - do their brave
and efficlent work on the fire line.
We mugt not BET false economy fur.
thor imperll the safety as public re-
sources and the protection OF hum0n
lives.
Il is time Tor congress TO face the
facts Before the national forests
can be made reasonably safe Against
fire. they must have ten times the
present trails and six times the tele-
phone lines now built. u has taken
six years OF congress 20 appropriate
enough money To build this small part
OF what o. urgently needed The
standing timber alone ON national
forests Is worth not less than five
hundred million dollars. In twenty
years Il will probably be worth well
over one billion dollars. II congress
gave the forest service the five hum
dred thousand dollars year 81 asks
for 20 build trails and telephone
lines. &c would give only onofourh Of
one per cent OF the value of timber
standing today In the national forests.
The preservation of this standing
timber controls the preservation OF
stream flow. whose value Is many
times that OF all the wood which the
national forests contain. The value
of the range IN national forests which
again Is largely dependent upon for
est preservation, Is mCulculable.' The
fees fog grazing alone bring into the
public treasury every year twice the
appropriation asked for trails ana
telephone lines. Without these inn
prOVements the forests cannot De
made safe, even with ten times the
present patrol.
The one million dollars asked for
actual fire fighting and cut hy the
agricultural committee 10 Onciuurin
that amount, Is simply innd await