Evening star., 1936-03-31
EROSION DAMAGE
IS TERMED TRAGIC
,Guffey, in Forum, Says U. S.
Faces Physical ard
Social Bankruptcy.

its floods and erosion of its farm lands,
the Nation faces physical and social
bankruptcy. Senator Guffey of Penn
sylvania said last night in the National
Radio Forum, arranged by The Eve
ming Star and broadcast over the
Nation wide system of the National
Broadcasting Co.
Senator Guffey said that, appalling
as has been the loss of life and prop
erty during the recent floods, the loss
of farm soil has been, perhaps, even
more tragic. Houses can be replaced
and factories rebuilt, he said, "but
life-giving soil washed down the rivers
is gone forever"
The strength of other civilizations
has been sapped by letting this disease
run its course unchecked" he warned,
land we can save ourselves only by
adopting the preventive methods and
cures of modern science. The rapidity
with which this country has been pop
ulated has been exceeded only by the
pace at which this population has
stripped 1t of its natural resources"
Text of Address.
The text of Senator Guffey's address
follows:
Today thousands of Americans are
laboring to repair the ravages of flood.
The subsiding waters have left trail
of muck and slime, of pestilence and
debris, of proverty and terror. Trag-
ically but grimly people turn to the
task of rebuilding. After a national
disaster, such reconstruction as is pos
sible must proceed. Yet, shall we do
no more than merely repair and
replace and await another flood?
Shall We not resolve to take such
measures as will prevent these dis
esters in the future?
Within the past fortnight devasting
floods ragged through IL States. Every
one of the New England States suf-
fered acutely. Power houses we're
swept away and bridges toppled over
like rows of dominoes. In my own
State of Pennsylvania. flood waters
reached an all-time high and the loss
to homes and to industries is esti-
mated at several hundred millions Of
dollars. At Pittsburgh. one of the
greatest and busiest industrial CEN
ters in the world. the food barri-
caded every highway and railroad
leading into the city, submerged
homes and factories. halted transit
lines, and by wrecking electric. gas
and steam systems. left people without
heat, light or cooking facilities.
Farm Loss More Tragic.
The losses in rural areas were less
dramatic, but perhaps even more
tragic for there was loss to farm
lands in the State of one hundred
millions of dollars through the wash
ing away of some of Pennsylvania S
most fertile soils Houses can be re-
placed, factories rebuilt, but life-giving
soil washed down the rivers is gone
forever.
Unless we control floods and control
soil erosion at the same time. the
Nation faces physical and social bank
ruptcy. That elimination is just a
matter Of time at that-unless we
take action!
The strength of other civilizations
has been sapped by letting this dis
ease run its course unchecked and we
can save ourselves only by adopting
the preventive methods and cures Of
modern science. The rapidity with
which this country has been popu-
lated has been exceeded only by the
pace at which this population. has
stripped it of its natural resources
and in this process great scars have
been inflicted on the land itself.
As I watched for few moments
the swollen waters of the Allegheny
and the Monongahela Rivers flow
through the streets of Pittsburgh and
the waters of the Potomac spread out
over Washington's famous parks, I
was struck by one common character
they possessed-their foreboding color.
The many thousands of you who
watched the flood waters or saw the
pictures last week we're aware Of this
same ominous quality. It was not
alone the swiftness Of the current
which was foreboding. nor its width
which seemed fateful. It was the
color. The wreckage of houses. barns,
trees and bridges was spectacular, but
within the water there was a greater
wreckage-the wreckage of the land.
Top Soil Washed Away.
This loss of soils will remain un-
recorded in monetary terms. Yet the
Soil Conservation Service has esti-
mated that 250,000, 900 tons of top soil
was washed away out Of the reach and
use Of man. It is difficult to COM
prehend such gigantic figure. You
have seen pictures of the massive
liner. Queen Mary. that England is
building and we are told that it will
be bigger than any ship now afoat
on any ocean. If this huge boat were
landed each trip with all the earth
1t could carry, it would take over 5000
trips to carry as much soil as washed
down our rivers in a single flood!
We may rebuild the cities, but when
we remember that it takes from four
to six hundred years for nature to
build a single inch of top soil, 1t is
obvious that the soil is lost as far as
our preent civilization is concerned.
About one-third of this quarter
billion tons of top soil was washed
into the sea. The other two-thirds
was deposited in and near river beds,
clogging navigable channels and Gre
ating other distractions. Many of
the rivers navigated by our fore
fathers are today so filled with silt
that they cannot be used. Some of
this silt inevitably is deposited behind
great dams and if unchecked in time
destroys their effectiveness.
Since our country was first settled
we have ruined 50,O0O,000 acres of
crop land in the United States, Sc
riously injured $4,000 900 more, and
are now threatening another 100000.
600 acres. Our earliest Presidents re-
allied the necessity for properly caring
for the soil. George Washington
ceased raising tobacco at Mount YER
non because it was a clean-tilled crop
which he found was causing soil ero-
sion Thomas jefferson at Montj.