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Withdrawal of Forested Public Lands Recommended..

EDITORIALS.

HE readers of FOREST LEAVES will be inter-
ested in the plea of Dr. Rothrock for the
water-powers of the State, which appears

in another column under the caption "Our Wan-

ing Water-Power."

That a forest cover has a steadying influence

upon the flow of streams is proven in numerous

11 instances.

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159371

minimum flow; for it is the minimum flow upon which estimates of power available must be made or calculations of the storage required based.

Every stream in the State cannot be developed into water-power, but there are a number which, by their large volumes and moderate declivity, or small volume and rapid descent, can be made available if the water is conserved.

If one-half of the average rainfall in the highlands of Pennsylvania is available for power, one square mile will develop a horse-power for eleven hours each working day during the year for every three feet of fall utilized; but the expense for impounding reservoirs to secure the utilization of one-half of the rainfall increases with the proportion of the drainage area denuded of forest cover; for the artificial impounding has less aid from the surface cover.

Protection to forests aids in conserving water supplies, and, with the advances in power transmission, many streams now flowing to waste may develop power much below the cost of steam generation if a considerable portion of the areas drained are maintained as forest. J. B.

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The following excerpt is taken from the Philadelphia Record of January 29th:

"A bill to create the office of Deputy Superintendent of Forestry is another of the endless jobs for increasing salaries and sinecures to reward partisans at public expense. For this Deputy Superintendent of Forestry there is not the slightest public necessity. In fact, the Forestry Bureau itself properly belongs to the Department of Internal, Affairs, which was created by the Constitution for attending to such interior matters of administration as care of the forests and improvement of the roads. The attention of Hon. Thomas V. Cooper is invited to this forestry job."

It is seldom, indeed, that FOREST LEAVES has been called upon to differ with the editorial opinions of our above-named esteemed contemporary. From first to last the Record has been a firm friend of the forestry movement. From a somewhat intimate knowledge of the workings of the State Department of Forestry we are in a position to recognize that it is, under its present organization, so overwhelmed with work that it is absolutely unable to render as efficient service as it desires to, or as the interests of the public demand.

As for the statement that care of the forests was

assigned under the Constitution to the Depart ment of Internal Affairs, the only indication that we can discover that the Department of Internal Affairs is charged specifically, or by implication, with care of forests, is first in the survey of State

lands, and then with issuing warrants for them, by which the Commonwealth disposed of its ownership in them. If time has shown anything as to the true policy now, it is that the old policy must, for the public good, be diametrically reversed. The State has been driven to purchase these same lands back and must now reclothe them with timber (we are tempted to say, at any cost), else every interest of the Commonwealth will suffer. There can be no doubt whatever of this. No political economist, no scientist, no reliable observer doubts, or disputes it.,

In the accomplishment of this work the State has already purchased over half a million acres and commenced as vigorously as possible, under existing means, to restore the forests.

We are quite confident that there is no sinecure or no perfunctory service in the Department of Forestry as at present constituted. We are equally sure that to get results commensurate with the importance of the work in hand, an immediate increase of the office force is necessary. The Commissioner of Forestry is obliged, in the absence of a deputy, to waste more time in going from the forests to the office, and from the office to the forests, than would pay for the salary of a deputy. In addition to all this, important business, needing early attention, is often held up because of the absence, on duty, of the Commissioner, and because there is no one in the office to act in his absence.

We know that there is no department of the State Government more overworked than that of Forestry. In it, legal holidays and vacations are unrecognized, and, as a rule, the work goes on there from 9 A. M. until 10 P.M.

We feel that for once the Record is in error in its judgment, though we are equally sure it is honestly and unintentionally so, and we hope that the Legislature will grant this much-needed force.

The Surveyor says that at a recent meeting of the Royal Institute of Public Health, held at Exeter, England, it was stated that on the 2241 acres of drainage area from which the water-supply of Torquay, Newton, Abbot and other smaller places is obtained, all the farms had been bought, the buildings removed, fences erected 200 feet from the streams to keep away cattle, and 159,000 trees planted. It is the intention to plant additional trees on land not profitable for grazing. On outlying portions of the watershed, away from all streams, oats, hay, etc., will be grown.

Governor Pennypacker's Address.

TH

HE inaugural of Pennsylvania's new governor offers encouragement to the friends of forestry, for it evidences an interest in | our resources, of which the forests are given prominence.

In his address, Governor Pennypacker says: "Pennsylvania has been very generous and bountiful in handling her great natural resources ; and while, perhaps, this method of treating them has not been unwise, the query arises whether it would not be well to give heed to the future. The commercial idea, put briefly and in gross, is that forests, coal, oil and iron are to be sent into the market as soon and as rapidly as possible, in order that they may be converted into money, and the men of to-day may live in luxury and enjoyment.

The duty of the statesman is to look beyond the indulgence of the time, to regard these resources as gifts of Providence, to be husbanded with care and used as need requires rather than wasted or poured upon glutted markets, with a sense that when once exhausted they can never be restored."

Such expression from one about to assume the responsibilities of Chief Executive may fairly be assumed as promising continued interest in the care of forests.

foul streams, cut through forests and destroy home-
steads. Often they are mistaken, both as to the
need and the profit, and this is learned after and
not before the harm has been done.

"Eminent jurists have doubted the constitu-
tionality of the act, and at all events its wisdom
in this respect is more than questionable. In our
Ihaste to accumulate we are in some ways in danger
of losing sight of manhood and even of funda-
mental legal principles. In my view, before any
franchise is granted, either by special or general
law, involving a disturbance of the individual
right of property, and before any exercise of the
enormous power of eminent domain by a private
corporation, there ought to be express assent by
the State itself, based upon an ascertainment of
the public need. This would mean the employ-
ment of a competent engineer to give information
to the proper department. If hereafter, in any
way, the State is to exercise control over public
roads, there will be further need for such techni-
cal information."

On behalf of the members of the Pennsylvania Forestry Association, FOREST LEAVES congratulates Governor Pennypacker and wishes that his administration of the affairs of this great commonwealth of Pennsylvania may be most successful, peaceful and progressive.

tion.

In another portion of his inaugural, Governor Proposed Pennsylvania Forestry LegislaPennypacker directs attention to the abuses of the right of eminent domain-an abuse which has done serious damage to our forests.

The following extract will be appreciated by our readers as evidencing the purpose of the new governor to protect individual rights:

"In Pennsylvania, as in all of the other American States, the principles upon which the right of eminent domain is based have been too often neglected and forgotten. The constitutions of both the United States and the State protect the citizen in his individual right of property. But when there is public need for the good of the community the State may intervene, and, giving him compensation, compel him to surrender his individual right for the general welfare.

"The test is the public necessity, and the thought upon the part of corporations or individuals that if they had his property they could use it to advantage is utterly foreign to the inquiry. There ought to be some means provided for ascertaining the existence of such public need before franchises are granted giving the right of eminent domain. Yet under our general railroad law any nine or more persons may unite upon their own judgment of the profitableness of the venture to

TH

HESE bills in the interests of forestry have
been introduced in the Legislature of Penn-
sylvania, and we trust our members will aid

in securing their passage:

House Bill No. 33.
Mr. Rahauser, of Franklin County, in Place, Jan-
uary 22, 1903.

An act directing the Commissioner of Forestry
to erect buildings on the Mont Alto Reservation,
or to purchase lands and buildings adjacent to the
said reservation, wherein to provide instruction in
forestry, to prepare forest wardens for the proper
care of the State Forestry Reservation lands, and
making an appropriation therefor.

SECTION 1.- Be it enacted, etc., That the Commissioner of Forestry is hereby directed, under the advice of the State Forestry Reservation Commission, to purchase suitable buildings and land adjacent to the Mont Alto State Forestry Reservation, or to erect buildings on said Reservation, at a cost not to exceed six thousand dollars, and to establish and provide therein and on said Reservation practical instruction in Forestry to prepare forest

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