Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1913-06-06
THE CRIMES Of
CONSERVATION
CongressmanHu nHumphreyTakes
a Fall Out Of Forestry
Bureau Practices
WASTE AND STUPIDITY
State Of Washington Has Lost
$50, 900, 900 in Eight Year.
By Conservation

WASHINGTON, June 3.-Chargine
that the public forest reserves
throughout the West are maintained
for the benefit of few railroads, for
the protection of one or two large
timber combines, and for the glorif
cation of certain government bureaus
and government employees, Represen.
tative Humphrey yesterday afternoon
IN speech before the house of rep
resentatives, fired the second gun in
the comprehensive attack which he
intends to make upon the federal for
estry bureau in congress.
Mr.. Humphrey asserted that the
government and the people Of the ma
ton are losing the earning power OF
a billion dollars and more in valu
able property because of the absurd
fancies OF Clifford Pinchot and his
followers. He was listened to at
tentively as he read the recent writ.
ings Of Pinchot on the forestry sub.
ject and quoted figures given by the
former chief forester which Mr.. Hum.
phrey claimed convicted the forest
service of criminal waste and stupid.
ity.
Makes Severe Arraienmsnt
Summed up briefly. Humphreys ar
raignmsnt Of TIE forest service
charges that:
One-third of area Of reserves has
no forests.
Millions Of acres OF so-called for
ests are sheep ranges and other mil
lions are deserts.
i Forest service creates forest reserv
es over these deserts and gives the
Santa Fe. railroad 935, 900 acres of
Lieu land scrip.
This scrip was then used to grab
good lands, and the Santa Fe Sc
cures 100000 acres OF best lands In
the public domain for it's worthless
deserts.
Under this arrangement $4,000 acres
Of the best timbered lands in the
state of Washington passed to the
Santa Fe road.
Northern Pacific exchanges noun
tain tops for 100000 acres of Wash
ington timber lands and sells these
same lands to the Weyefhausers.
Same railroad exchanges worthless
Montana lands for 24O,O00 acres OF
scrip and takes more good timber land
from the public domain.
Annual crop of timber estimated by
service is 6,oOO.000.OOO feet.
Annual cut, as told by chief for.
ester's report, is only per cent. OF
the crop.
In figures, a million dollars worth
OF timber was sold and fourteen mil
lion dollars worth rotted on the
ground.
Timber crop has been wasted, while
the price of lumber to the consumer
has steadily advanced.
The American Forestry Association
is the parent organization of the fed
eral forest service. Every lumber
king in the country holds member.
ship in the American Forestry Asso
citation.
Forest service is. piling up millions
of deficit, while its resources, the
timber products, are wasted.
At present rate of cutting it will
take $4,000 years to remove present
timber on reserves in this state, al
lowing nothing for new growth.
State of Washington alone has los,
$6O,OOO,OOO in eight years through
present conservation practices.
What States Gets
Continuing, Mr.. Humphrey said:
Mr.. Pinchot answers the complaint
made by the states, and especially
the state of Washington, that they
are not receiving adequate sums in
lieu of the taxes that they lose BY
these national forest reserves, in the
following language:
The Western states now receive fol
their schools and roads, in lieu ol
taxes. 25 per cent. Of the gross rev
enue from the national forests. VI
to January 80, 1912, they have thus
received s2,6O6,40O. Of which $115,2Oi
went to the state of Washington. The
present congress has set aside an ad
ditional 10 per cent. for building
roads, and more than 100000 has al
ready been made available. In some
places the proceeds from this 25 pei
cent. Of the gross revenue already ex
ceeds what would be produced I'm
der private ownership. In others Il
still falls short. In the end 1t will
surely exceed it everywhere.
Let us analyze these figures ant
see how they harmonic with his state