Norwich bulletin., 1921-12-24
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
The Forestry Service.

MT Editor: One of the great con- structye achievements of President Roosevelt is in danger. A serious attack on the United States forest service will soon be in the news from Washington. In the house the Curry bill GIT R.. 5964) in the senate tl1e King bill (S. 2740), and the New bill (S. 2382) provide for trans feEring the forest service in whole or in part from the department of agriculture to the department of the interior. Hear ings have been held and will shortly be continued.
 In the department of agriculture, where they are now. the forest service and the national forests are safe, and so well managed that (excapt for certain special interests) they have won the unanimous support of the nation. Their purpose is to grow trees. and they belong naturally in the department which has to do with growing all crops, including tree crops, from the soil. Forestry is a part of az riculture and is so recognized the world around.
 The interio~ department is tHe real es- tate agent of She government. It is not the business of a real estate agent to grow crops on forest Or farm. As a matter Of fact, when the interior depart ment had charge of the national forests. years ago, they were so badly handled that President Roosevelt was forced to insist upon their transfer to the depart nlent of agriculture The modern prog ress of forestry in America dates from l that change
 l The forest service has little business | with tht department of the interior, and what it has is rapidly diminishing. It
 has many times more business with the other bureaus of the department of ag- | riculture, and that business is rapidly fn-
 creasing. It is in constant and inti-
 mate cooperation with every branch of l the department where 1t is now.
 The department of agriculture has
 much forest work to do outside the na- l tionaI forests. There are more acres by 1 twenty million in woodiots on farms l than in all the remaining public domain l of which the interior department has
 charge. If the forest service were trans i ferred, the department of agriculture
 would be compelled to build up a similar organization thus leading to more dupli- cation in the government service instead
 of less.
 Forestry Is doing admirably where il | is. There is not one sound reason of any
 kind for the proposed transfer It is nei ther good administration. good business
 nor good Tolitics to undo Roosevelt
 work
 It is well understood Tn Washington
 that the same interests that attempted
 to gobble up the natural resources O
 Alaska in Secretary Ballingers time ar
 at it again. The best stalking horse 0
 the men behind the grab is the clain
 that Alaska is going backward. Tht
 fact is that from 1910 to 1920 the ex ports from Alaska have increa sed iron
 s13,60S,394 to s62,46soe6, or 366 pc
 cent, while during the same ten year
 the exports from the United States in
 creased from $1.sS6,258,eo to sS,228,
 o16,307, or $40 per cent. Alaskan bus mess has actually been growing faste , than the business of the United State. although the latter has been increasin
 at rate without precedent in tn worlds history
 The national forests in Alaska, if the can be saved, will produce two millio cords of pulpWood annually for all tim or enough to supply one-third of tn present needs of the United States Tn [ forest service in the department of az 3 rlculture has completed plans for deve 5 1 Ing this great resource in way to ope l 1 1t to the public but keep the gra5bers ou g More than half our timber is gone a 3 ready. Only one-sixth of our virgi } forests remain, and they are being c, 6 at a rate that will destroy them entirel
 before twenty-five yeras. Only lit ! more unrestricted forest devastation wi bring down upon us the dangerous harc . ships of a timber famine. The cost V pulpWood and lumber is already prot v enough of the stage to which the sea s city has already advanced, ard of wh: f is still ahead.
 |. Little has been heard of all this ou = Side of Washington. The purpose ( d this letter is to let you know what l. planned, and to express my hope tn t when the occasion come you will tre; l. the proposal as it deserves. Unless Il l. friends of forestry take up this matt {" in earnest, its enenlies will win out. q they do, it will mean the ruin of u e forest service, the wreck of the nov l. ment for forest protection in Americ g and higher prices for forest products le every kind. It would seeu to be u et wrong time to take chances with fo Id estry just now when every clearhead
 citizen knows that with the utmost ca Fe We can hardly escape most serious tro