Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1922-01-13
OUR FORESTS
Unless There Is Prompt and Resoluie
Action State viii Lose Tlmbes.
ONLY 100000 ACRES ARE NOW LEFT
Idle Lands Not Used for Better Pur..
poses Should Be Made to Grow Tim
bsr-No Substitute for Woed-many
States Already Out.
By James Henry Rice, Jr.

BY James Henry Rice. Jr. Z Z
Perhaps you have never thought se-
riously Of the forestry question. Very
few have. Most right minded men love
trees. Washington Irving calls old
trees the real nobility. for 1t requires
time to produce perfect tree. All the
money of the world can not get over
that. rn
Suppose you knew. beyond doubt.
that you were saddling mortgage on
future generations for centuries, max
ing life harder for them; would not
you avoid 1t, IL you could? Surely.
This is what we are facing. Unless
there is prompt and resolute action
South Carolina will lose all it's forests.
Nine -tenths have already gone. Tim-s
Der Is being cut just four times as fast
as 1t grows; and the loss through for
est fires is appalling, for the. young
growth, on which a future supply de-
pends, is being destroyed. On many
areas there are no seed left. sis. ~
One thing the biologist is never tired
of impressing is that. the law Of life is
one. Plant and animal are governed
by exactly the same law. The applica-
ton, the means employed, the habitat
for growth may differ, but the law Is
the same. 5 81 ~.
Now when seed trees, old vigorous
trees, are destroyed and reproduction vs.
had from Immature trees the future
growth will be inferior. What makes
this more emphatic is the destruction
of the habitat. Note a burned over.
area. Mark the twisted trees, the trees
SCARED by fire, some Of them eaten into
by fire. giving insects and disease an
easy entrance. S-. ~. .iistr
But right now I am going to lave
this alone and come back to 1t later.
States Importing Timber.
I was shocked the other day to read
that both Texas and Georgia were ,trn-
porting timber. Both were great tiir-
ber producing states a few years ago.
paradises for numbering. They have,
fallen behi-d, used up 50 much OF their
supply that timber has, to be imported
and people at home paygthe freight.
within my recollection New York was
the chief timber producing state In the,
United States and Pernsylvania vas
next. New York now, cuts less than 80
feet for each inhabitant. annually, and
all the cut of Pennsylvania, does not
supply the one city Of Pittsburgh.
Nearly half of all the timber produc-
ed in the United States comes now
from west of the Rocky mountains q
four thousand mile haul. What WIN
lumber brought from that region cost
here? It makes one dizzy to think
about 1t.
feel the impulse to use strong IAN
euage. It ought to be used and rubbed
in.
But, in order to be fair and reasona-
bIe. let the case be frankly stated.
There were s,SSO,O0O acres OF timbered
land in South Carolina in the year 1898.
twenty-four years ago. There are bare
" 100000 acres of timbered land LETT
today, most Of it being in the hands OF
few people.
Right here, let us kill viper that
may get in deadly work, namely tne
local legislation business. 1t is the
greatest enemy Of human liberty on
the earth today, one that sets at nausnt
the work of civilization. ~
Most Timber in Eastern Section.
App,y It to the timber When the
people Of Berkeley, Dorchester ana
Colleton destroy timber wholesale, tne
citizens of York, Union, Greenville ana
Oconee pay more for their homes ana
for everything made Of wood. MosI "
the remaining timber lies In the eas'-
ern half of the state.
What is sought to be doneg Mercy
this: To see to it that idle iands' noe
required for agriculture or grazing, pe
made to grow timber; to which emu lne
wholesale destruction Of timber by for-
est fires or otherwise, be sternly STOP
ped by law. Our large lumber mills
are owned generally al Inc e'.- 80
Their owners have turned them over 10
hired help to run them, requiring
nothing but results.
Neither the owners Of the mills, nor
the men operating them have the vital
interest that permanent citizenship
confers There is no legal restraint.
They are a law unto themselves; ana
when people shut their eyes and turn
over their birthright to somebody else
there is usually trouble coming. It has
! come.
It follows, of course, that the true IN
terest of the mills Is in conserving
timber in order to haye'a future sup
ply. This is ordinary common sense;
but many of the mills do not look at u
this way. 1t is a gamble, scramble,
O. free for all fight with them, Win
devil take the hindmost."
This country has passed the stage
when the old saying can be allowed:
"A man may do what he pleases with
his own" Nobody denies the right TO
cut timber and market 1t. when the