The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1915-04-16
: THE APPEAL OF THE IL
TREES. A

SLer ana vicinity, humDly DeSeech the
good people hereabouts for whose
benefit W. were largely created, and
TO whom We minister to the best OF
our often handicapped ability, to think
a little more about us than they are
taking at the time to do. And in view
of the manner in which you-all
America in fact-have, for SO long,
treated the just rights and privileges
of the tree, W. believe that our atti-
tude toward you, In this appeal, ID a
very temperate one.
For are we not, incontestably.
monarchs of all plant life, even as we
admit, you are kings of the animal
creation? And, by the way, though
you may rightly occupy the highest
position among the three kingdoms
of earth, W. had a place ON the map
ahead Of you. III YOU don't believe
this, look in the first chapter OF
Genesis.
However, the chairman of our-just
organized Shade Tree Protective
Association" (the old oak at the turn
Of Washington Road has, with char
acteristic charitableness, selected
these appropriate lines, as our Com
mittees slogan:
Evil l. wrought by want OF thought
\ AS oft as want Of heart"
We, therefore, unanimously, appeal
to the heart of everyone among you,
to take more thought of US.
Now, the Lindens, who have an es-
pecially long list of grievances against
you Cbut, by my faith, who among us,
has not?) stood at our last meeting
FOR q harsher summing up than this,
of the tree situation. They wanted to
hold you guiltily responsible for at
least quarter century of wilful, un-
grateful, heartless neglect-of a pub
lic snubbing Of US, most painful to
the feelings of even the least vain
among VI, such as, for instance, the
lowly scrub locusts, who dare scarce
ly hold up their heads. And, finally,
you are accused of a physical abuse,
without subsequent apprehension and
punishment of the malfactors. But
the deciding votes cast by the still
masterful members of this now pa
thetically small Linden family-our
two sentinel scouts out OH Main street
carried the meeting in favor OF the
milder charge of thoughtlessness.
Sins of commission, in destroying
multitudes of us outright, or in permit
ting still others slowly to decay and
perish in the very prime of their USE
fulness to your community. Beloved
companions; chums Of ours for gen
eratiOns, and in whose branches the
same robins and their descendants
had nested and sung to the early
English or Dutch forefathers in these
glorious hills of Carroll.
But the list of the lost in this one
Cir nd -
long To follow. Why, there il scarce
ily tree between the College and
Playground HiH. of our proud little
city, that has not paid its toll of the
slain. Indeed we have scarcely
enough Weeping Willows left to
make decent show of mourning at
our tree funerals. Sycamores and
elms, naples and poplars and others
too numerous to name, all sacrificed
before the very eyes of the few of III
who remain-a spectacle serving to
benumb us to mute acceptance Of our
own probable fate
But this is sure enough dead
wood" and, at any rate, we are now
slowly but surely emerging from our
dark ages"
And now remember, the hard
hearted, hard-headed among YOU, that
though mother nature can survive,
perhaps, her tree armies that are lost,
she cannot, according to your own
scientists, safely risk decimation of
those that remain. They tell you that
man, SO get busyl
Every school child knows that our
water courses are largely dependent
upon trees, and why And what farm
er does not realize the value of hui
mus which makes fertile his soil. And
how about our benevolent way of abb
sorbing the poisonous gases thrown
of from your lungs, and the oxygen
essence Of your very life-which we
give YOU gratis, in return But our
list Of gifts freely given, IL too long
to 20 over And YOU know them, at
any rate. Yours is simply that same
old complaint; thoughtlessness.
Trees give more return for less eff
fort on your part than almost any of
your worldly belongings.
Think how We serve you i'm health
and beauty, and also commercially.
You do not need to be artists to en-
joy our grace of form and color; nor
doctors to appreciate that we are
missionaries of sanitation nor real
estate dealers to perceive that the lot
with shade trees in it brings higher
price than the barren one. So why
not cease your sins Of commission
and protect W. from our enemies?
Don't let horses gnaw VI Oh line
men cut us. One Of our kind women
friends on Main street stayed up all
night to prevent an instance of such
maltreatment. Prevent contractors
and builders from mauling US.
Let Carrolls motto be-: Two for
Onel
Give hack to the land two trees for
every one that, for just cause, she
must sacrifice. You have made good
start; our Committee is delighted
with the mile-long nursery of two
hundred and twelve infant poplars
being planted on one of your beauti-
full State boulevards this week. They
are, surely, among Westminsrer's
eugenic babies May many more of
them follow there and elsewhere
for your state has now a good road
side tree law, and such movements
will be protected. And too, thev fol-
low courteously, the issuing last
week, of the fine proclamation Of your
tree-loving Governor in our behalf.
Read itl Think itl Then YOU wili live