Conservative * 11
frequently aiid carefully. Stock taking
in the forest is very expensive.
Oth. Forestry requires steady manage
ment and yields returns on the same
spot only in long intervals , intervals
often longer than human life. In other
words , forestry requires a long lived
owner. In the old country this draw
back does not weigh heavily , as towns ,
villages and families holding the proper
ty entailed are the chief owners of well
managed forests ( aside from state
forests ) , and as the population is not so
shifting as in the United States.
Stumpngo Values.
Another item is overlooked : Forest
ry practiced by private individuals can
come only with the rise of stumpage
values. As long as a commodity
abounds , there is no need for its con
servative use and management. As
long as , e. g. , the city of Columbus con
sisted of 10 cabins , there was plenty of
drinking water and no necessity to
regulate its use. "When water became
scarce , such a necessity arose , resulting
in water obtaining a value expressed by
the dreaded "water rents" and result
ing in a careful management of water
supply.
For forestry or tree management , the
same consideration holds good : As long
as trees have no value , seedlings anl
saplings are more than worthless , and it
would be foolish to raise them in the
place of trees cut. As soon as a tree 100
years old is worth a dollar , a seedling ,80
years old is worth nine cents ( figuring
at 3 per cent , compound interest ) , and
it pays to secure a growth of such seed
lings during the course of removing the
virgin crop.
A Piece of History.
In European forest history , similar
observations can be made. Take the
Spessart forests in Northern Bavaria
for an example :
In 1570 the giant oak trees of the
Spessart ( now worth $80 a piece ) had no
value whatever ; the forests served as
hunting grounds and were used for
pasturage of cattle and hogs.
In 1600 glass factories were establish
ed on the outskirts of the forest , pene
trating gradually , in the course of fifty
years , to the center of the forests , using
beech-charcoal for .
- glass-manufacture.
At the same time floating of oak timber
commenced to supply the cooperage-
works in the Main and Rhine valley.
In 1666 rules were enacted tending to
protect the forest and to regulate its
use.
use.In
In 1765 the government found it ad
visable to make a forest working-plan seas
as to prevent over-cutting of the forest.
The plan was made a plan which seems
ridiculous now , because it was based on
entire ignorance of the rate of tree-
growth.
In 1700 the plan was revised , the
Arch Duke of Mayence borrowing from
lie Duke of Baden a then famous
'orester , a Baron von Tettenborn. At
; hat time trees had assumed value , and
it had become remunerative to spend
money for their conservation.
Lack of Public ItondH.
The cause of rising stumpage prices
in the Bavarian Spessart is obvious.
Public roads were built by the govern
ment trenching and opening the forest.
Suddenly when the roads were complet
ed , trees , which were inaccessible and
without value before , became worth
something , and their progeny of seed
lings at once assumed a prospective
value'making it worth the owner's while
to protect them and to increase them in
number.
The history of road building and
forestry are going hand in hand , a fact ,
which 1 think has been overlooked so
far.
Every forestry advocate should back
the good roads movement and every
enthusiastic adherent of good roads
should help to strengthen the propa
ganda for good forestry.
Conclusion.
But I should return to my loom and
finish my thread ! Forestry cannot come
quickly ; it can come only with the in
crease of stumpage values , with wise
taxation and thorough protection of
forestry investments. The drawbacks
of forestry as an industry for private
enterprise are manifold. Unless the
commonwealth offers considerable in
ducements , changing the tax laws and
protecting the forest , private capital will
not flow into forestry ; and unless these
inducements are offered soon , 85 per
cent , of all American forests ( viz. all
private forests ) will have disappeared ,
when the desired rise of stumpage values
arrives. The forestal history of the
countries surrounding the Mediterranean
will have repeated itself.
O. A. SCHENCK , PH. D. ,
Biltmore , North Carolina.
PAYMENT FOR A NEGRO SLAVE.
Joseph W. Dickson of Dallas , repre
senting the heirs of the late Col. D. H.
Epperson , today paid to Hon. Henry D.
McDonald of Paris , Tex. , representing
W. J. McDonald of Paris , $750 cash , in
payment for a negro slave sold by the
McDonalds to the Eppersons in 1860 , and
for which a note for $750 was given to
secure the payment of the purchase-
money. After the civil war the ques
tion of liability on the note got into the
courts , because of the abolition of slav
ery. Eecently court proceedings were
discontinued , and the Eppersons agreed
to recognize the validity of the debt anc
pay off the note. Col. McDonald and
Col. Epperson and the slave that figured
in the transaction have all been dead
many years. Correspondence St. Louis
Globe-Democrat , January 7.
A WARNING ,
n n Methodist camp mooting , as you may
know ,
Arc scats for a inultitudo , row after row ,
And the people come crowding in , docile and
meek
And eager to hear what the "Brother" may
speak ,
And thn Brother stands up like the king of the
whole ,
And tolls each poor sinner what's good for his
soul ;
And the sinners , believing , indulge now and
then
In a loud "Hallelujah , " "Give Glory , "
"Amen. "
They to the "Anxious "
may come Seat" bowed
with distress
[ mploring the Brother to help and to bless ;
They may sing , they may pray , they may weep ,
they may shout ,
3ut they must not deny , nor ask questions ,
nor doubt ;
They are there to bo humbled , instructed and
led
And not to find fault with , what's done or
what's said ;
They're the sheep , the lost sheep , and the man
with the book
Is the shepherd who gathers them in with his
crook ;
And the shepherd ? oh , he may be pastor , or
clerk ,
Or pious lay-brother , invited to work ;
Ho feels that a mission is his to unfold
And ho must bo earnest , unyielding and bold ,
Ho knows what is right , and those people
below
Must listen and say to themselves : "That is so I"
Perhaps the camp meeting is near the seaside
Where in summer celebrities gladly abide ;
A judge , a professor , a grand millionaire
The president even may chance to be there 1
Such guests then ( if pious ) to speak are invited
To hear them the people , of course , are dn-
lighted ;
The orator stands , for the time , as dictator ,
Who answers not "Yea" and "Amen" is a
traitor.
For speaker and hearer 'tis dangerous play
And should my opinion be asked , I will say
That a Methodist camp meeting's not a { jood
school
To teach a man how a ( treat nation to rule.
ELIZABETH E. EVANS.
'
si
1858 Alexander - H
OVER THE TRAIL.
der Majors came
to Nebraska City and established the
headquarters of Majors , Russell &
Waddell , who were the largest firm of
freighters across the plains in the United
States. Hence to Salt Lake City they
carried the government supplies for our
army in Utah commanded at that time
by Albert Sidney Johnson.
Mr. Majors was a man of great native
energy and good intellectual ability.
He managed the business of the firm
with shrewdness and success , although
entirely without that education which
the schools bestow.
The Omaha Bee of Monday , the 15th ,
gives the following :
"CHICAGO , Jan. 14 , 1900. Alexander
Majors , well known throughout the
southwest as the originator of the Pony
Express and the first man to conduct a
complete overland mail service , is dead.
His body was taken to Kansas City to
night for interment. "
Thus those who pioneered the way
over the plains are fast departing upon
that long trail whence no one returns.
311