Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-03-28
Bills. will Be introduced to
Guard Against Repetition
of Such Disasters.
TREATMENT, OF FORESTS
IS IMPORTANT FEATURE
H. S. Graves, Chief of Service, De-
clares Matter Is q Ma
tional Issue.

With the picture of the Ohio and In
diana food horror fresh in their minds,
senators will introduce bills looking to a
| complete solution OF the question Of how
| to prevent such overpowering disasters
and experts of the forest service already
partially answer the question. according
to interviews obtained by The Star today.
| One Of the features Of protection against
| floods, as outlined by H. 8. Graves, chief
Of the forest service, is to be found in
the proper treatment Of forest and wood
ed lands. and that it is a tremendous
question, national in size and importance
is readily admitted by him.
| Mr.. Graves said:
| so far as / have been able to follow
the reports from the food districts, there
was, it is true, minimum of forest cover,
but at the same time the rain was very
heavy and very sudden, SO that the floods
] could not fairly be laid to q lack of nat
ural cover Ohio and Indiana are among
| the older agricultural states and natural
ly much Of the land has been cleared for
| farming, leaving the trees chiefly on the
| farm wood lots and the higher rocky
| land that could not well be cultivated even
| if 1t were cleared.
| 1.-The reports all indicate that the rains
were exceptionally heavy. and sudden.
The first of the storms may have been
| cessive rain all over the region, for we
| are now getting river food conditions that
evidently come from heavy rains and
| swollen streams. even in the back coun-
| try and high up on the watersheds.
| 1T is impossible to overlook the val
| ue of forest cover in controlling run
| off of rain. We want to protect the
| forests on all watersheds. This does
not mean that they should not be used.
| but that they should not be destroyed.
| Wood can and should be harvested like
| any other crop. 1t should be protect-
| ed at the same time, and this is what
| the forest service is trying to do and
! teach the private forest owners to do.
But when you come to the problem OF
| food control, that Is national question
| involved with the control Of streams
| all over the country.
No Fear of Much Damage.
II do not anticipate such great floods
in the lower Mississippi river and the
| great destruction of property by floods
as. occurred last year. said Senator
Ransdell of Louisiana today.
While there will be high water and
| Hood conditions, Il do not believe that
there will be sufficient water to cause
much damage" continued the senator.
This is due to the fact that many
| of the rivers which empty In the
Father of Waters are low today. where
= year ago they were high. 1t was the
| flood conditions in the Ohio, the Mis-
| souri,, the Red river, the Yazoo river,
| the ST. Francis and other streams which
| feed the Mississippi which united to
| create the disastrous floods of 1912.
| "The Ohio river is higher this year
than it was a year ago. and will be
higher But the heavy rains have been
| confined to a comparatively small area,
Indiana and Ohio, and these waters
alone will not be enough to cause such
large floods in the lower Mississippi.
Favors Legislative Action.
! 81 am heartily in favor Of any legisla-
| ton or expenditure by Congress which
| will prevent the recurrence of these terri
! BILE Hoods" added Senator Ransdell, "but
| l do not believe that any human agency
can control such conditions which brought
about the floods in Indiana and Ohio this
week. The tremendous fall of rain in a
/ contracted area could not have been pre-
| vented 1t was an act OF PROVIDENCE.
| Reservoirs and dams would not have
prevented the disastrous floods In 1act'
| reservoirs burst and added to the ruin.
i "It has been suggested that the govern
| ment establish a system of reservoirs to
take care of the flood waters But do
| not believe that this is feasible. How
/ could the government obtain reservoirs
large enough to handle the vast over
flow waters? And If reservoirs were es-
| tablished, the chances are that they
! might be full of water Just when 1t was
! necessary for great rams TO De cared
for and conditions would be worse than
| IL there were no reservoirs.
Senator Ransdell. who was chairman OF
| the House committee on rivers and har-
bors before he was elected to the senate
| has taken a keen interest for many
/ wears in matters relating to the floods OF
the Mississippi and its tributaries.
Other democratic senators said today
+ that they did not believe that any plan
had been OF could be developed whereby
the conditions which brought about the
floods in Ohio and Indiana could be pre-
vented
| Plan to Prevent Floods.
Senator Newlands of Nevada, chairman
of the committee on interstate commerce,
however, has introduced a resolution in
the Senate which he intends to push dur
ing the special session of Congress about
to convene. looking to just such a plan
for preventing floods. His resolution pro-
vides in part as follows:
That the Senate committee on inter-
state commerce report at as early a date
as possible during the extra session upon
the following questions:
Whether it is advisable to provide 70,
the creation of a board of river regula
ton which shall bring into co-operatidf
| the departments and services of the ma
tional government whose duties In any
way relate to waterways In devising anG
carrying out comprehensive plans fol
the promotion OF interstate commerce
Il by the regulation of river fow the
mitigation of destructive floods, by the
: | promotion Of storage above and OF
bank and levee protection below, the
| establishment Of terminal and transfer
| facilities, the coordination of rail an6
| water carriers and the cooperation of
the nation with the states. each within
, its jurisdiction, in plans and works for
| the full and, so far as practicable
| compensatory development of the
rivers for every useful purpose and
!; the ablishment of an ample fund for
continuous work during a period of
. ten years.
"Whether it is practicable and advisable
TO bring into coordination under the
interstate commerce commission the re-
Il lated subjects of Interstate transporta-
. ton interstate trade and Interstate ex.
. change. by the creation of three. boards
. in such commission. one relating to inter
state transportation, one relating to inter
, fstate trade and one relating to interstate
| exchange, the present Interstate COM
merce commission to constitute the board
of interstate transportation, the proposed
, interstate trade commission to constitute
the board of interstate trade and the pro-
y posed banking commission to constitute
Il the board of interstate exchange. merg-
!. ing into the board of. Interstate trade the
Ipresent bureau OF corporations and