Evening star., 1933-11-26
Observation-Disclosures
GUARD FOR U. S. FORESTS
New Chief of Forestry Calls Fire Greatest
Hazard on l5O,OOO,OOO Acres
of Federal Land.
BY PERCY N. STONE.

- HORTLY after the turn of the
century. when the United States
Government was first beginning
~ to interest itself in the preServa-
ton of the countrys forests, a
young citizen OF Charleston, s. G.,
planned to let Johns Hopkins make
him an industrial chemist. He lay
in the warm sun Of Sullivans Island,
where Charleston does its swimming.
trying to forget a dissection room ne
had left at the College Of Charleston
not long before when he decided not TO
become a physician.
He carelessly ran through dog
cared copy of the Saturday Evening
Post and, thoughtlessly at first, began
to read an article on the conservation
OF trees and the new ambitions Of the
Government, a discussion written by
Rene Bosche. His Incidence gradually
left as he read on. The article man
aged to substitute an imagined smell
OF pine needles for the lingering odor
of the class room and turned strip
ling from chemistry to forestry. Travel.
open air, excitement-they seemed far
more desirable than a sedentary, closed
in fussing with test tubes.
Now Chief Forester.
Recently that same person Ferdinand
Augustus Silcox, left New York for
Washington to become the Nations
chief forester, the steward Of 100000
900 acres of timbered land and an an
nual budget of S65,000,00o. Before him
hes the tremendous task of making
worthwhile the labor of 10000 men in
the Citizens Conservation Corps. Ahead
Of him also is the duty of checking the
ever-increasing fire danger which every
dry season manages to destroy more
timber than rides down the Spring
drives to the sawmills. He must some
how recover the denuded watersheds
of all rivers to steal from the Mississippi
that giants annual turbulence in the
South. He must win from Congress
a larger and still larger budget II half
the things which he believes should be
done are ever to be completed. Not
that these tasks may conceivably be
completed in our time or our childrens
time, but every year the expenditures
must increase to offset the constant
whiting away of this Nations timber
reserves
Despite the fact that oficial Wash
3ngton realizes the necessity of penny
pinching as never before. Mr.. SilcoX
takes over the chief forester's troubles
with an excellent chance of doing more
lot conservation Lndn mas ever Deen
done since the timbered acres were first
set aside. The army OF unemployed
now in the woods has increased his
duties and responsibilities, but at the
same time has made his work in an
other direction much easier because of
the public interest at last focused
upon the woods and tempted hills
Every young man who leaves a city
for a year in the mountains comes back
ready to support the conservationists
The families Of these young men. tene-
ment dwellers though they may be, be-
come aware Of the trees they have
never seen and can at last imagine
what problems face the foresters. Years
of printed propaganda did almost
nothing to excite the American people
over the dangers Of a foreStlesS West.
Speeches fell on disinterested ears.
But now the personal element has
entered in and the cities for the first
time are becoming forestry con-
scious." That is one thing in Mr..
silcox's favor.
Has No Political Affiliations.
Another advantage he has derives
from a complete absence Of political
Affiliations. Although brought up in
the Democratic monopoly of South
Carolina, he has scattered his votes
Socialists. governed by his mental
processes rather than tradition ever
since he was Of voting age. He owes
nothing to any party. AS matter of
fact, the Office of chief forester has
never been a political foot ball. 1t was
the death Of the last incumbent and
not change of political supremacy in
Washington that brought about this
appointment. The forestry problems
are national and a Democratic State
can ask for no more than Republican
unit.
However. members Of Congress have
not yet come to understand this. Even
before Mr. Silcox went to Washington
Che received the appointment a month
before he assumed Office their letters
and kilograms began pouring in.
Pork" eaters wanted to get their de-
n1ands and requests in early. The
States along the lower Mississippi find
II hard to realize that the forestry
service, by planting millions of pines
at the head waters of the gulf bound
streams in the Rockies of Western
Montana, will eventually destroy the
levee problem. The benefits seem too
direct financial benefit by being pop
ulated by the conservation corps of
unemployed. The old congressional
cry Of gimme, gimme, gimme" echoes
through the dingy halls of the Atlantic
Building in Washington.
Conservation Chief Purpose.
The whole purpose of the Forestry
Department is, of course, the protec-
ion and conservation Of the country's
timber. and to guard that vital resource
there must be constant conflict with
lumber industry which has always
been Of q speculative nature. Con-
tinuity Of ownership in the American
forests Is rarely heard Of The lum-
bermen strip an area bare and leave
1t. not being interested in a new
growth which must take 100 years to
mature; not being interested in leav-
ing a stand of timber for a decade
ahead when they will be in other
mountains.
Yet, as Mr.. Silcox sees into the maze
ahead Of him, the most important of
all immediate problems is the dirni-
mutton Of the fire hazard There is
after all, no purpose in trying to save
the Nations trees from being reck-
lessly cut down II a weeks fire can
destroy more timber than the mills
use. Nor does there seem to be much
~, r,1o iy~ tHo% will