The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-02-02

l
Everything made of wood, from a
toothpick to a bungalow, costs
more in this country than it used
to cost, and lumber prices are rising
every year. The reason for this is
simple. The people of the United
States are consuming their timber
supply four times as fast as 1t is
growing.
This threatening situation is the
cause of the attention which con-
gress is now giving to the problem
of the national timber supply. Sew
eral measures have been drafted,
and the house committee on agricul-
ture has been holding hearings on
one of them, known as the Smell bill
| This bill has the support of most
of the lumber companies, and there
fore has an excellent chance to be
enacted into law. 1t has a number
of provisions for charging the ma
tional forests, reforeSting deVaStat-
ed forest areas and the like. But
the important part of the problem
| is the protection of forests in pr1-
vate ownership from forest fires,
and the regulation of cutting on
these forests in such a way that the
forest will not be destroyed but
will reproduce itself.
The Smell bill seeks to accomplish
this by appropriating large sums OF
money to be spent by the federal
| government, in cooperation with the
state governments and the owners
of timber lands, in the protection
/ of private forests from fire. This
| is to be done on the time-honored
system by which the federal gov
eminent will not spend more in any
one state than is appropriated in
that state locally.
This measure does not meet with
the undivided approval OF conser-
vationists. 1t does not give the fed
eral power, represented by the sec
rotary of agriculture working
through the forest service, any di-
rect authority to enforce rules OF
fire protection or to regulate meth
DDS of cutting so that forests shall
not be destroyed. The federal gov
eminent merely appropriates
money, and makes experiments and
forcing of regulations is left to the
state governments. In the opinion
of those who hold that states rights
are all important, and that the ten
dency of the federal government
gradually to rob the state govern
meRts of their power and indie
pendence must be checked, this is
as it should be.
Is Federal Conservation Necessary.
The argument on the other side
is that in practice, when matters
of conservation are left to the state
gov ernments, they are not ade-
quately attended to, One state, for
instance, may pass an excellent for
est law, and in another state, where
forces interested in rapid exploita-
ton dominate the legislature, prac-
tically nothing may be done to pro-
tect a natural resource which is of
the utmost Importance to all the
people of the nation. During Roose-
velt's administration the principle
was established and acted upon that
the protection of natural resources,
which are of national extent and
importance, should be a duty Of the
national government. The national
forests were created on this prin-
ciple in the face of considerable
opposition, and the wisdom of this
measure has since been generally
conceded. 1t is argued that it is
only logical extension of the same
principle to protect forests in pri-
vate ownership by federal author
ity, now that their protection has
become necessary. To leave the
protection of private forests to the