Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1916-04-13

with thorough knowledge Of these need"
have mentioned, and unless. during the
next few years. vigorous steps are taken
providing for the setting aside of noun
tain areas for preservation as we'll as re
forestation, the children of to-day who
are the citizens Of tomorrow. will be face
to face with a problem which we of to-
day have helped to make most difficult
This Is matter for the serious consid-
Grafton of the Federated Womens Clubs
of Vermont. 1t is a field in which the
women of the State can be Of the utmost
service Without their cooperation the
work must necessarily proceed slowly.
The interest which women have taken
throughout the country has very appre-
ciably heightened the strides % the con-
servation movement and Vermont needs
the aid of women in It's move for more
and larger State forests, for reforesta-
ton, and chiefly for the education of
the children.
A forestry committee in every woman'S
club to cooperate with the Forestry AS
ISOLATION of Vermont would he an effec-
! tive and valuable asset to the clubs and
, to the State.
/ TO PROTECT WATER SUPPLY AND
SCENERY.
| And now we come to our fifth and last
purpose: To protect the water supply
and improve the scenery. We must have
water. Everybody knows that but how
many people are thinking ahead on that
question? Not many. We are sitting idly
by while the lumberman comes to our viii
lagos in the heights, sets UP his engine,
brings in his foreign choppers, cuts off
the forests. leaving orr hills and noun
tains barren and bleak, almost worthless.
What permanent benefit is it to you of
| Woodstock. or burlington, of Newport,
Of Bennington, OF Rutland, of the 2i0
towns and cities Of the state? Are YOU
receiving the lasting returns that are
rightfully yours?
To continue our illustration Of the lum-
herman; He has harvested hir crop or
rather. our crop-yours and mne-and he
has left our village and gone elsewhere
to continue the same operations. All that
remains of his sojourn are the dismal
treeless wastes. with POSSIBLY a saWmill
standing by the banks of the hrook-an
eyesore. Oh. well. you say, that land
will soon grow up again With trees. II
will. but what good are they to us? Berry
bushes and brambles, thickets Of bird
cherry and thornapples will stand in place
Of the pines and the hemlocks, While
this blighted growth is going slowly on
ward we hear of a spring thai has gone
dry for the first time since anybody car
remember, in fact. the story has beer
passed down from father 70 son that i
was never known to be dry, even in the
| dryest seasons.
~ II
The brook on whose banks stands the
diapidated mill. now falling into hope
less ruin. has become smaller and small
err each summer, sometimes Just a mere
trickle. where once the trout were won
to Turk. The brook follows the narrow
winding valley down to the larger towns
Other brooks join 1t on the way, but they
too are smaller than before,
The river that turns the mll-wheels a
Rridgewater. West Woodstock, TaitsVlIle
Quechee and Dewey's Mills IS CROWNS
lower and lower each succeeding season
In the summer II is necessary TO put NJ
extra addition on the dams that more
water may be stored up to grind th'
grains to weave the woolens and to gen
crate the electricity
The cities still further down depend
upon the brooks and springs which have
their source In the mountain towns Il
Is TO us here in the hills Of Vermont tina
they look for water In the SPRING witt
the melting of the SHOWS ana ice, th'
torrents come laundering down the nils
flooding the valleys, carrying away the
bridges. wrecking the railroads, swamp
ing the Easements of the stores ano
homes in some of our towns and mdktnt
havoc generally. And why?
Simply because we have allowed on
back hills and mountains to he denude>
of their spongeike growth which former
Iy stored up the melting SHOWS.
FORESTS tanned TOO HIGH.
Who IL to blame? The lumhermen?
No indeed, He is doing just what yol
or would do under the same conditions
The people of Vermont and the United
States are responsible. They have force,
him to cut and cut clean. He cannot d.
otherwise. The overtaXing of forest
compels the lumberman to use his tim
Der. We consider timber as real estat
and year after year We tax II like a min
instead of treating 1t as Il crop.
There are woodlots In every town |,
the State upon which the annual growtl
fails to pay the taxes. Forest propert.
is assessed by including the value of tn
understandable timber; that Is. not ont,
the machinery for production, the land
is taxed. but also the product itself, tn
timber Apply the same principle to as
ricuiture and the absuriity II evident
Surprising the farmer was taxed not onl
= upon his farm machinery. buildings an
, land. but on the value OF his CROWN