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About The news-herald. (Plattsmouth, Neb.) 1909-1911 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 21, 1909)
a m2 fe fey MTTMC more than 10 years ago Clif ford I'inctiot look charge of the gov eminent forest work. t'p to then the duties or tin- division of forestry lay mainly in compiling forest data and statistics, its usefulness was tiecossn rity narrow, and its discontinuance In contemplation. The work employed 10 persons, of whom two were profes sional foresters. The forest sen ice now iidmiiiisters the national forests, whose aggregate area 'ltX hi 1h ntioi't tlio snine us Texas and Ohio blncd, nnd whose money value Is than twite that of the total equipment of the army and navy. It furnishes tlio chief source of Information nnd as sistance to private, forest own ors and users, who wish to practice forestry. Its force numbers about 0,000, of whom 2."i0 are professional foresters. This great machine is ad ministered under a policy which has the approval and the co-operation of the Ameri can people. It is not an Im practical policy constructed by theorists - by those who noinetiinos hit the bystander Instead of the bullseye, be cause they have not learned the use of the gun with which they shoot. Nor Is it a for oli'.n policy, expected to meet conditions under which it was not constructed. The policy of the forest service makes no fetish of the foiVid. It lilies no destine! ive upheaval in economic covditions. But when the line is plain be- VIVA k Aim 13 a i'Si' x: vzttj&zzn E COJYSERVA 77 YE. CUTTING MA TOffAL FOAEST 5s; V m It Is worse than the axe In careless hands, for the lire consumes everything;, young trees and old, and the forest soil as well. Waste nothing. These are the principles under which logging is done In the national forests. The result Is to make of them a factory as well as a storehouse of wood. But the usefulness of the national forests does not end with producing timber and grass. Their still larger value to the nation Is In conserving stream flow. These moun tain forests are to the streams of the west what the storage battery Is to the wire the source of energy in reserve. With- IIW III ' ' if' - -W1 ? t w $ -"x ( I - i 4 1 f. III I t --'4 ' 1' . -S' '. 1 1 n,. RMNGTfi PUTTNG OUT FOREST GAOIVD FIRE WITH WET CADDIE BLANKET A FOPEST RAJSGER MOVIffG CAMP leasing of power sites without passage of title to the user, through a charge for the occu pancy and use of these sites and through rigid provisions against combination and monopoly, the forest service Is effectively safeguarding, within national forests, the Interests of tho American people, whose property these water powers are. Herein lies the greatest public service which the foreBt service Is reuderlng. The standing timber In the national forests, which Is alone sufficient If It were cut clean to meet all the needs of the nation for 10 years, is of less value than the sites for the development of water power, whose useful ness these forests conserve. The complete destruction of this timber by fire would be far less grave than for the power sites within na tional forests to pass Into unregulated corpo rate ownership or control. The power of the immediate future is wa ter power. Tho trust of the immediate future Is the power trust, if nation, state and citizen fail to do their utmost. In some regions this trust is already lirmly intrenched. In others it is in the mak ing. In every region it is s p r e a it t n g. s t r cngthening, acquiring, where men need pow er to work for them and water runs down hill. To say there are no combina tions to control water powers is to be of them, or to be misin formed. In addition to their resources of water, wood and grass, the national forests serve a host of minor uses of great impor tance to the settlers who live in and near them and to the development of the communi ties In which they lie. A to tal of about 10, 000 permits for these minor uses have been granted, involv ing the occu pancy of nation al forest land or the use of I 'Sy-V'.J s i IV tween the use of tho national forests or any of their resources, for tho permanent benefit of many, or for the temporary benefit of a few, the forest service encourages use by the many and prevents Its monopoly by the few. There are two planks in the platform of the forest service. They are these: To Insure through public ownership nnd administration the fullest permanent use of those forests which are essential to the public welfare. To teach American citizens how to make the beBt use of forests in private hands and of their product, by finding out and telling hem how. Tho 194,500.000 acres of national forests htand for the first plank. They conserve most of the water nnd one-third of the timber of the west. This national heritage, whose measurable material resources are worth more than two billions of dollars, is being adminis tered by the forest service In the best perma nent interest of all the people. At an average cost for protection of about one-fifth of a cent per acre, the damage by lire on national for ests for tho last three years lias been, per mil lion acres, about three per cent, of that on private forest, lands. In these three years the uso of the national forests by the people has more than doubled. In 1!0S, so great were the demands of the people's business, that an average of only about one-fifth of the time of the forest rangers could be given to fire pa trol. This was the equivalent of all tho time of one man for tho patrol of 580,000 ncres, an area half the size of the state of Uelaware. From Arizona to the Canadian border and from California to Minnesota and Arkansas, the forest rangers have done their duty. This has meant unrelenting effort, usually under frontier conditions. There Is no more exact ing work than fire patrol; and, short of war, nothing makes greater claims than fire fight ing upon personal courage, fiber and devotion. The forest rangers are the backbone of the service. Were it not for them, tho national forests would soon be forests no longer. And at each of these public servants comes to lay down his tools for younger hands to pick up. be will leave behind him, In the vigorous, un seated forests of his district, a valuable heri tage to the community and the honorable record of a trust fulfilled. The protection of the national forests from fire is incidental only to the development of their fullest permanent use. This use is limited only so far as is needed to insure the perma nence of the forest and to keep It in satisfac tory condition. Last year 1,500,000 cattle and horses and 7,500,000 sheep and goats grazed within national forests, or 12 and 21 per cent., respectively, of the range stock of the west. Nearly 400,000,000 feet of mature timber was sold and cut, or enough to build 25,000 ordinary frame houses. Mure than 130,000.000 feet more was given nwny to settlers for firewood and other home uses. All this timber was cut and logged conservatively, to the improvement of the condition of the forest. Under such man agement a forest produces wood forever. For a man can handle his forest In three different ways, just as he can handle money in three different ways, and the same Is true of a nation. He can destroy his forest by wasteful logging and the tiro which follows it. Just as ho can squander money until It Is nil gone. He enn protect his forest adequately from fire or other Injury, but fall to harvest Its crop. Just ns he can lock up money In a nfc and let It lie there protected from loss, but unproductive and useless. Or he can handle his forest rightly ami profit by the Interest without Impairing the capital, like the man who Invests money Bafely and well. There la nothing Intricate about the prin ciples or the practice of forestry. It has Its own cureful, skilled methods based on study comparatively recent In this country, but which In other countries began hundreds of years ago. To describe these methods would fill many pages and it takes trained men to apply them. Dut in the last analysis forestry Is common sense, scientifically applied. Cut the mature trees, but do not cut them until they have shed seed enough to start young trees to make another forest. Remember al ways that the sapling will make a valuable tree some day If It is not Injured, just as a boy will make a wage earner If he has his chance. Keep Are out of the forest, because V-j.-.w "N- L tl'J il VteL fiJth I & sr 4$" An x -x. 's v 4ii IMVi. xf I THE FOREST AUQ TJ SOIL C0H4UMED BY FIRE out forests to check the run offs, streams fluc tuate or even go dry for part of the year; but those streams which rise In well forested wa tersheds maintain a comparatively even flow. Tho reclamation service, when Its task is finished, will have turned 50,000,000 acres of desert Into fertile farm land, dotted with homes. Under Its director, Frederick Haynes Newell, whose achievement Is natlonnl and enduring, this work, unparalleled In scope, Is going successfully forward. The story of what has been done by the men of the reclamation service, in the face of engineering dig nities historic In their magnitude, has yet to be ade quately written. But for the permanent suc cess of Its work, the reclamation service must depend not merely upon its reservoirs and dams, but upon the thoroughness with which the forest service does its duty. The preser vation of the national forests is vital to the fulfillment of the national irrigation policy. In the conservation of water used for the development of power through electricity, as well as for irrigation, lies another great func tion of the national forests, whose Importance Is only beginning to be generally realized. In the regulation of the development of this power within national forests, through the other resources, of which more than half were without chnrge. This vast nnd increasing business Is han dled by the officers of the forest service, who are the servants of the people, in the Interest first of all of the small man. The timber and the grass the national forests produce cost a fair price to tho lumberman and the stockman. The forest service Is not charged with the regulation of corporations. But It Is charged with the right care of a vast public property. It sees to It that the yield from this property, the water, the wood and the grass, goes first to those who need It most to the home build ers. For every permit granted to a man to graze 1,000 head of stock or more, the forest service has granted 10 permits to small own ers to graze their little bunches of sheep and cattle. For every large sale of timber, It has made 20 small sales to feed the little sawmills upon which the frontier communities depend. The national forests are to the west what roal Is to the engine. The forest service is the stoker. There is coal enough In the bunkers to keep a full head of steam through out the run, If It Is not wasted. If It be wasted, the engine will soon slow down for lack of fuel. Time 'our D Nfsbit. Hall Rues luzy Kpli'm Jones, (ioiicl-foli-iuitlln hag a' bones! iut lils Huh" polo in his bun', !it his halt In dut olo can Huh! lies look nt Kpli'm's liatS Kvuh soo dn beat o' dut? It's de on'y oni! ho owns Lazy, loatin, Kpli'm Jones! Why'n't ho wuk Ink folks lak me? Why'n't ho let dom Ashes bo? "VVIuit he a'poxn bo comln' to? Ain't ho niiilln eluo to do? 1-ook at lilm, des slouchln' 'Ion ilunmiln' Homo old soht o' son? I.awd! I'so not ter dl en scratch In dla hyuh olo 'later patch! Huh! I rockon he's or gwino Sonie'ro wld dut polo en lino 'Wiiy erpast do bruk-down mill Wliuh do crick sis 'roiin' de liill, Hen he'll set down in do sliudo Hat de willor treos is made I.uzy, shlf'lcss li:i! o' bones, Oood-foh-nullin Kph'm Jones! T-nwil! It's hot hynh In do sun! Wish dis 'later patch 'uz done. Ki'ckon :pli'iii he'll des lay In do shade dah all (lis day, Th'owln' In en ptillln' out r.cil-cvs, Ikiss, en niebho trout! lien he'll mm,! pr-sloin hln' homo tirinnin' l;ik i-r ciirryeomli! I.nwd! Iis sun ts hot. My Ian"! I 'is is mo' don I ln Hlnn'. Mali pies Kph'm thoo do wood -I'm-ni! I lut d.it shade feel good! 'Tiiin't no use. Xohedy owns Me ihin doy do l"ih-iii Jones! 'Tat' r patch. I'll li t you' hi Kph'in. Kph'tn! Walt toll in.-: x- rrxi V"- ''"if . '& Some Figures on Cheese. "I see," said the man with the high forehead and the stub pencil, "that Mr. Rockefeller Is again urging cheese as a staple article of food." "I reckon he will spring the Stand ard Cheese Company next," growled the man with the incandescent whisk ers. "Hut. thinking about cheese," said the other man, tapping his stub pencil upon a sheet of paper covered with figures, "I find that for $9,210,000 one could buy 2!12,400,000 pounds of cheese at ten cents a pound." "Who wants to buy that much cheese?" Inquired the man with the Incandescent whiskers. "Nobody. It Is inertly Interesting, that Is all. And that quantity of cheese, in cheeses of 25 pounds each, would mean 73,100.000 cheeses." "What kind? Camembert, Roque fort, limburger or what?" "The the what kind. The ordinary cream cheese. Of course, In lim burger, It would be" "It would be fierce." "Perhaps. But, now, you take 73, 100,000 cheeses and set them one on top of the other and they will make a tower 13,814 miles high. Laid flat, side by side, they would make a line 27,089 miles long long enough to go around the world and have 2,689 miles to spare. In other words, to make a parallel line of cheeses across the United States. Pared In Inch strips, the rind of all those cheeses would make a strip long enough to reach half way to the moon, and" "And If an Inch cube of thnt cheese was put on every piece of apple plo eaten In the world It would supply the pic dishes of all the earth until Sep tember 2, 1997," suggested the man with the Incandescent whiskers. "Made Into welsh rabbits It would pro vide enough to All the Pacific ocean ind the Desert of Sahara." "It goes to show what $29,2 10,000 will purchase," remarked the man with the pencil. "Huh!" growled the other man. "It ?oes to show how much figuring you ran do without any money." How He Felt. After having been made D D LL. D n. A.. M. A., Ph. D. and about hundred more things like that by illfferent colleges, the great man be comes a thirty-third degree Mason "How do you feel?" asks a friend "Feel? Now I feel like a human thermometer," he says, first looking about to see that the reporters will jverhear the remark. Enhances Her Chances. There is a youn lady In Kan Who always Is seen at tho das When asked why, bIhs'U any; '' "t munt marry gome duy, Bo I never muat mlaa any chua."