The investigations of the Water Supply Commission have shown that there is an installation of water-wheels having a capacity of about 830,000 horsepower within New York State, of which amount about 200,000 horsepower is at Niagara Falls. The average daily output of the plants is about 620,000 horsepower, including 145,000 at Niagara Falls. There are in all more than 1,800 hydraulic power plants within the State, many of which are equipped with steam auxiliary power plants. The total capacity of these auxiliary plants is about 124,000 horsepower. The investigations have indicated a total development of about 1,500,000 horsepower to be economically feasible within the State. This would be uninterrupted continuous power, exclusive of Niagara river and the portion of Saint Lawrence river not under the jurisdiction of New York State. A considerable part of this amount is represented by that which would be added to the existing developments by the regulation of the flow of the streams. A number of individual opportunities exist for considerable new developments, some of the more important of which are a 30,000 horsepower on Genesee river at Portage Falls, a 30,000 horsepower on Sacandaga river at Conklingville, a 32,000 horsepower on Raquette river at Colton Falls, and many others ranging from 1,000 to 20,000 horsepower.
The investigations of the Commission have shown that the construction of large storage reservoirs for impounding flood waters may be beneficial in many ways. Probably not all of the possible advantages would result from the construction of any particular reservoir. The extent and variety of benefits may be summarized somewhat as follows:
(1) The equalization of stream-flow by storing the water during wet seasons and using the same to increase the volume of the stream through dry seasons;
(2) A consequent large increase in the power value of the stream, due to augmenting the low-water flow, and thus doubling or trebling the dependable flow for power purposes;
(3) A consequent decrease in the height of freshets, thereby reducing the great pecuniary damages caused by the periodic recurrence of floods;
(4) By increasing the low-water flow of polluted rivers a dilution would result which would improve the sanitary conditions on the stream;
(5) Navigation would be benefited by a higher stage of water on the lower reaches of the rivers;
(6) The extension of transportation facilities, often to an important and desirable extent, by navigation on the proposed reservoirs;
(7) The low lands of the river valleys could be made somewhat more tenable, and their agricultural products increased by reducing the contingency of floods;
(8) The perpetual submergence of extensive tracts of swamp lands, which are now unsightly and a menace to health, would be possible;
(9) The creation of extensive lakes with beautiful shores offering desirable locations for permanent homes and great attractions to summer visitors seeking recreation and health; and
(10) Inestimable indirect benefit to the State due to the stimulation of industrial enterprises, the increase in number and prosperity of the people, and the creation of taxable wealth by the progressive development of water-powers.
Among the more promising opportunities for the inauguration of a State policy in storage reservoir construction is that offered by Genesee river. The Commission's investigations have shown that it is practicable to build a reservoirwith a dam near Portage, which would be about fifteen miles long and over a mile wide, with a total capacity of about 18,000,000,000 cubic feet at a cost of about $4,500,000. The regulation of the stream by this reservoir would not only practically do away with disastrous floods in the Genesee valley, but would add power worth at least $200,000 a year to the existing developments at Rochester, and develop at least 30,000 horsepower in connection with the dam; the value of water-power at Mount Morris would also be greatly enhanced, and the nuisance created by the present polluted condition of the river below Rochester would be abated. Other opportunities are offered on Sacandaga river and other tributaries to the Hudson, on Raquette river, and on Black river, where a system of several reservoirs is proposed. Many smaller projects are also under consideration. It is estimated that $20,000,000 would be sufficient to build the reservoirs whose construction is justified under present conditions.
Problems Involved With Water Storage
There are in general two acceptable methods of reducing or preventing floods. The storage of the water which constitutes the hood wave, or a considerable portion thereof, is doubtless preferable if there is a site for a reservoir of sufficient capacity and the construction is not too expensive. The other method consists of widening, deepening, and straightening the channel. In recent years, the public has been rather generally educated to believe that storage reservoirs constitute the universal and easily applied remedy. There are many rivers in New York State on which this method may be used effectively, but on many others the absence of basins of sufficient capacity or the excessive cost preclude the possibility of complete flood control in this manner.
The problem of absolute flood control is, however, more complex than the foregoing simple statement would imply. One complication arises from the fact that the damage from floods in New York State is often increased by the formation of ice gorges. The formation of these gorges cannot be prevented by an ordinary system of storage reservoirs, although the temporary holding back of the ice in a reservoir would in a few cases undoubtedly be of some assistance. It seems that the most effective method of dealing with this condition consists of keeping the ice broken up on the reaches of the stream where gorges are most likely to form, and thus provide a clear passage for ice brought down by floods. This method would probably work hardships or inconvenience to the ice harvesters on some of the rivers; but the protection afforded to property would doubtless more than offset the disadvantages. The State has entered upon a policy of protecting property in this manner along the Hudson below Albany.
Another condition by which floods are greatly aggravated is the obstruction of the channel by insufficient bridge openings and other structures. The cause may be ignorance as to volume of flood run-off, or in the struggle to realize a large ultimate income from a small present investment the possibility of occasional damages may be carelessly disregarded. This encroachment on the channels of streams should be a matter for official regulation, and deserves more public attention than has yet been given it in this country.
Perhaps the complication which involves the most difficult problems of construction and operation of flood-control works is that of combining adequate flood protection with equalizing of stream-flow for the development of power and other purposes. To materially ameliorate flood conditions on large rivers usually requires the provision of an enormous amount of storage; logically, the larger the proportion and the greater the capacity, up to a certain limit, the better the control. On many streams it is doubtless feasible to build systems of reservoirs which would entirely do away with destructive floods, provided the reservoirs be intelligently operated solely for flood control. It must be frankly admitted, however, that the ideal use of storage for flood control is not entirely consistent with the best use of the same storage for equalizing the flow throughout the year. For the purpose of ideal flood control, the reservoirs should be emptied of accumulated flood waters immediately after the flood has subsided and as rapidly as possible without swelling the stream to dangerous proportions, in order to have the storage available for another flood. On the other hand, for the purpose of equalizing the flow as completely as possible throughout the year, the reservoirs should only be drawn upon when necessary to supplement the natural flow in the stream in order to maintain the desired average flow. Theoretically, if the extremes both of the rate and volume of flow of the stream can be determined (which usually requires very long records of discharge), and if sufficient storage be provided for the absolute equalizing of the flow, the solution of both problems would go absolutely hand in hand, and flood control by storage would be synonymous with ideal equalization of stream flow. The most practical solution, where conditions will permit, seemsto be to provide an excess of reservoir capacity so that the portion of the reservoir above a certain elevation may be reserved entirely for flood control while the portion below that elevation may be used for equalizing the flow of the stream. This plan has been proposed by the Commission in the case of the projected Portage reservoir on Genesee river.
Undoubtedly the greatest economic problem involved in a study of flood control is that of the adjustment of the relative rights of the residents of the upper and lower sections of the river valley. From the point of view of each the matter calls for different modes of treatment. The up-river resident believes the solution of the problem will be found in facilitating the passage of the flood by his district. This may result in discharging a great volume of water on the communities down-stream at a time when it would swell the crest of the flood in that section. The down-stream resident naturally has to contend with a much larger volume of water, so that to restrict it to a channel of moderate dimensions is out of the question, and he therefore prefers an arrangement whereby the surface waters from the upper stream may be at least temporarily stored in the basins containing the lands of his up-stream neighbor. The Water Supply Commission has held that the proper disposition is the improvement which will work the greatest good to the greatest number, provided there is a distinct economic advantage to the community in the river valley as a whole.
The matter of municipal water supply is likely to be involved in some of the great storage projects, also the water supply for the canals of the State. Several streams on which water storage is practicable are at present or will be in the future used as sources for canal water supply. The plans contemplated by the Commission would result in insuring the sufficiency of these supplies, but the uninterrupted maintenance and protection of a constant water supply during the navigation season is undoubtedly essential to the proper operation of the canal system. In these times of extensive municipal water supply systems, it seems reasonable to assume that there may be instances in the practical working out of a comprehensive plan of water conservation where the project of water supply for a municipality or group of municipalities may be combined with a water-storage project to good advantage. At any rate the careful and prolonged study which has been made of municipal and domestic supplies by the Water Supply Commission has given it a full appreciation of their prime importance, and the Commission believes that in any water-shed the question of municipal water supplies should be given first consideration.
It has been believed by many that the State, in the exercise of its police power, could construct storage reservoirs which involved the use of some of the State's forest lands in spite of the constitutional provision that "The lands of the State, now owned or hereafter acquired, constituting the Forest Preserve as now fixed by law, shall be forever kept as wild forest lands," and that "They shall not be leased, sold, or exchanged, or be taken by any corporation, public or private, or the timber thereon be sold, removed or destroyed." The River Improvement Commission considered the constitutional question thus involved, and reached the conclusion that the force of this prohibitory clause in the constitution was paramount to all exercise of the police authority of the State to protect the public health and safety, and it declined further to consider any petitions involving the utilization of State forest lands for the construction of storage reservoirs. The Water Supply Commission has held practically the same view of this question and has accordingly recommended to the Legislature that the Constitution of the State be so amended as to permit the flooding of State forest lands for the purpose of constructing storage reservoirs which are to be forever owned, maintained, and controlled by the State for the public use and benefit and for the purpose of providing a public revenue.
The conservation of the water resources of the State on a broad and comprehensive basis, which shall give practical consideration to the most favorable natural opportunities and produce the most beneficial results necessarily involves the flooding of relatively small areas of State forest lands in the Adirondacks. The surveys indicate that 55,000 acres of State land would be required for a complete system of water storage, including many reservoirs likely to be built only in the distant future, if ever. Even this total of 55,000 acres is only 3.9 percent of the State's holdings within the boundaries of the Adirondack Park; of this amount about four-fifths is low swampy land or is under water, and only one-fifth, or eleven thousand acres, is of any considerable value for forest purposes. This question of the amendment of the Constitution is under consideration by the State Legislature.
The drainage of swamp lands is another problem which tends to complicate rather than simplify the water-storage situation. There are within the State extensive areas of swamps whose owners would like to have them drained and reclaimed for agricultural purposes. Some projects of this character have already been carried out, but the questionable constitutionality of most drainage laws has interposed to retard any very widespread reclamation movement of this character. Hereagain the desires of the up-stream and down-stream residents do not harmonize. The down-stream riparian owner, especially if he operates a water-power, objects to the drainage of those marsh lands on the ground that they constitute a natural storage reservoir which operates to steady the flow of the stream. His solution of the problem would be to build dams across the outlets from these great swampy tracts and thus increase their capacity for storage. In some instances it appears to be entirely feasible to do so, while at the same time it seems equally practicable to secure the necessary storage by raising the surface of some existing lakes and subjecting them to some fluctuation. The question enters as to whether it is not better to flood a comparatively small additional area around the shores of existing lakes in order to secure the required storage and then drain and reclaim swamp lands for agricultural purposes.
By special act of the Legislature in 1909 the Water Supply Commission was given jurisdiction over certain local improvements to streams which contemplated the betterment of both the sanitary and scenic conditions. Certain lakes in the State are bordered with large areas of unattractive swamp and stump land which the local residents would prefer to have permanently submerged. It is claimed that the scope of improvement would include not only benefits to the conditions affecting the health of the community, but that such improvements would in a number of instances result in rendering the region more attractive, especially to summer visitors seeking recreation and health. It is also pointed out that in some instances the interior navigation on some of the lakes would be materially improved, and that the community would materially benefit from the improvement in this manner. The State has already carried out some improvements of this nature, and it seems quite probable that there are possibilities of a number of similar improvements. The problem does not appear to enter into the larger storage reservoir projects, and has not been given very extended consideration by the Water Supply Commission.
New York State and her citizens are justly proud of her scenic falls. Of these the American Falls of Niagara are doubtless the most widely known. There are, however, other falls on streams within the State which constitute local attractions of great interest in their respective communities. The Salmon Falls on Salmon river in Oswego County, the series of falls in Letchworth Park on the Genesee, and High Falls on the Ausable are prominent examples. The Water Supply Commission entertains a deep appreciation of the esthetic value of these beautiful masterpieces of the hand of nature, and believes intrinsically in their preservation. This attitude of the Commission is exemplified in the plans for the proposed Portage Falls power development, which provide for a flow greatly in excess of the minimum flow over the falls for a period of twelve daylight hours in each day. On the other hand, the Commission sees also the wonderful amount of quiet comfort which would be afforded to modern civilization by electric light and the many other applications of power which can be generated by the waters running over some of the falls of the State. The major part of the surplus water is wasted in the spring months of the year, and does not contribute in any appreciable measure to the scenic beauty of the falls; on the other hand, the natural flow of the streams frequently is reduced to such a low rate that the falls lose something of their attractiveness. It will doubtless prove practicable in connection with power developments at some of the naturally attractive falls in the State to insure a larger minimum flow in the dry weather as well as to conserve the great amount of power at present running to waste over the falls in the wet season.
In humid climates irrigation is admittedly more or less of an experiment. Its financial feasibility seems to depend on its being considered a matter of insurance against the failure of crops in seasons of low rainfall. There have been a number of scattered experiments carried on at different places in the State, but the plants used, especially in the older experiments, were comparatively complicated and expensive. The equipment for one particular set of experiments cost about $500 per acre. More recent experiments have been conducted in sections of the State where the precipitation is light during the growing months, and in fact throughout the year, and with a less expensive and a more generally practical equipment. In a few instances, which have been brought to public attention, the experimenters have been able to raise excellent orchards and garden products by means of a comparatively inexpensive irrigation plant, whereas other portions of the gardens and orchards of the same farms did not produce results nearly as satisfactory. One successful experimenter claims that he has made 20 percent interest on his investment by the installation of a small irrigation plant. The precipitation records show that there are portions of New York State where the rainfall during the crop-growing months does not amount to more than one-fourth or one-fifth of the water which is applied to the same crops where irrigation is conducted on a broad scale. The subject has not been entered into in great detail by the Water Supply Commission owing to the fact that its statutory jurisdictiondoes not seem to justify such a study, but it appears that the possibility of such use of at least a portion of the water supply of the State should be borne in mind and its development carefully watched in connection with the formulation of a general plan for the conservation of the water resources of the State by means of storage reservoirs.
Need for Comprehensive Plan and Definite Policy
The importance of a fixed policy establishing State leadership and control in the matters of water Conservation cannot be overestimated. Without it, there is no place for consecutive and correlated action, either executive or legislative. In the past the State has had no policy of power development, either under public ownership or by encouragement and regulation of private or corporate development. Unlike many other States, New York has never, under general laws, granted the right of eminent domain to individuals or corporations for the purpose of flooding lands to create storage ponds and develop water-power. Moreover, it must be conceded that in view of the doubtful constitutionality of the "mill acts" of other States, and particularly in view of the strength of the modern sentiment demanding universal sharing in the benefits of natural resources, this State is not likely in the future indiscriminately to grant its power of eminent domain for this purpose. Unless the State shall define its policy and enter upon the work of carrying it out, this feature of its natural resources must largely remain in its present undeveloped condition, or be subject to the same haphazard and uncontrolled methods of utilization that have governed in the past. If we are to permit private interests to build storage reservoirs for power purposes on any broad and satisfactory plan, it can only be done by amending the Constitution. As adequate reservoirs cannot be generally constructed for power purposes by private enterprise without constitutional amendment, and possibly not then, the better way to accomplish this object is for the State itself to announce its policy and undertake its performance in the interest of all classes and citizens.
Development by the State ensures the fullest possible utilization of the power possibilities of each stream, whereas development by uncontrolled private enterprise often involves waste of resources. Private capital, seeking the greatest possible immediate return on the investment, naturally confines its attention to the most concentrated portion of a given fall. The less precipitous portions of the fall above and below, involving a large unit outlay in development, are consequently apt to be neglected, and in too many cases permanently wasted, because no other enterprise is likely to undertake their development afterward, even if the rights of the company already on the spot would permit this to be done. On the other hand, the State, with its greater power and scope, and with financial resources enabling it to defer the return on its investment, could undertake the construction of the more extensive works necessary to develop the full extent of the fall in the supposed case. Without amplifying the point, it should be clear that the State is the only authority with sufficient power to ensure the complete development of each and every stream so that every foot-pound of energy represented by its falling waters may be given up when necessary to the service of man.
The prime inclusive reason for the exercise of State authority over the control of stream-flow for power development is that under modern social and economic conditions this step is necessary to ensure the equal participation of all citizens in this form of natural wealth, which is peculiarly the heritage of the whole people. Some of the more particular supplemental reasons for State control have been mentioned in the foregoing. It appears that from all points of view the State is the proper authority to undertake and carry out the conservation of its own water resources.
The State Water Supply Commission is engaged in studying the subject of conserving the falling waters in the rivers and streams of the State. In a country where all of the streams both great and small fill their banks in the springtime after heavy rains, and then decrease in volume all through the dry months so that they become in most instances worthless as power streams and of but little value in many other ways, it is clear that storage reservoirs of large capacity, the size depending, of course, on the water-shed in each case, must be built, if wasted water and worthless streams are to be turned into valuable assets. The building of storage reservoirs requires available areas to flood, favorable sites for dams, and scientific knowledge to supervise the construction of such damns and reservoirs. There must be, also, some general head to locate and plan such reservoirs on a broad and comprehensive scale, so as to store the largest possible amount of water in each given case; otherwise opportunities for economic development will be lost and money wasted. The plan should be so feasible and comprehensive as to include every profitable storage possibility, be it either great or small. The planmust permit of doing the work by reservoir units, and at such places as make promise of early and satisfactory return. With such a plan all who are interested in using to the best advantages that which is our own, and saving and conserving for the future that which justly belongs to our children, can work in harmony. Such a plan will enlist the people of every locality in the possibilities of water storage in their own developments, and at the same time not interfere in the least with the developments of a similar character in other parts of the State.
A plan that will enlist such an interest and make possible such a systematic development of a great and wasted natural resource, the Water Supply Commission has been trying to devise. It makes no claim to perfection, but it does claim that it has devised a workable plan for saving and conserving this wasted energy for both public and private use and so as to provide a public revenue. The plan includes the building of storage reservoirs by the State which shall be owned and controlled by it. The scheme is to use the stored water to equalize the flow of each stream upon which it is built, and charge the users of the stored water for the additional power such stored water gives to mill owners further down the stream. This does not contemplate charging a mill owner anything for the power he now has, but only for the additional power he gets by reason of the equalized flow of the streams due to using the stored water when he needs it most.
The Water Supply Commission as a part of its last annual report to the Governor and Legislature submitted a bill providing for a systematic development of the water-power resources of the State under State control. This bill contemplated the return of a net revenue to the State and accordingly provided for the assessment of benefits upon individuals and properties benefited by reason of the construction and operation of storage reservoirs. Many of the provisions of this bill were new in principle, and it was to be expected that a measure of such far-reaching effect would meet with some opposition. Although the bill provided for contracts to be entered into with respect to payments for benefits to be conferred, and the power of assessment was only to be resorted to in order to forestall an unwilling beneficiary from blocking the progress of a great public enterprise, such a provision met with disapproval in the Legislature and the bill was not advanced. The Commission believes that as the Legislature becomes more familiar with the problems involved, it will approve of this policy. For these reasons, the bill with amendments in other respects will again be submitted to the Legislature in connection with the next annual report.
C. B. WaldronState Agricultural College of North Dakota
While Conservation means the same to all people, namely, the perpetuation of those resources and conditions that make a prosperous existence possible, yet each Commonwealth must develop its own best means for bringing this about.
While it is wise for the Federal and State governments to take what steps they may to prevent the wasteful destruction of certain natural resources like our minerals and forests, yet if all this be done and with the thoroughness that the most ardent of us could demand, still the great problem of Conservation taken as a whole would scarcely be touched. The utmost that the Government can do directly, though of considerable magnitude in itself, is relatively of small importance. Even meetings like the present one have a significance and value only as they inaugurate and vitalize Conservation movements more important and extensive than any Government can ever hope to bring about by direct means.
This principle applies to the greatest degree in instances in which control of the natural resources has already passed to the individual owners. It applies with even added force when such ownership lies in agricultural lands. The reason for this lies in the fact that of all natural resources the soil is by far the most important, and, further, that conservative principles and practices apply with greater directness and profit there than in any other field. The conservation of this season's plant food and soil moisture means next season's crop. Through plant and animal breeding the more prolific and profitable strains are conserved, and through battle with plant and soil diseases and with pests of all kinds we conserve the purity of our soil and the crops that we grow. Such active and constant exercise of Conservation as this may be, in a field that directly affects our entire population in the most vital and direct manner possible, is a matter for our most earnest consideration.
What is being done to train the great body of mankind to whom this important task of Conservation is entrusted; and are the present measures adequate?
Aside from legislation pertaining to weeds, plant diseases, and insect pests, there is little that can be done directly to enforce Conservation measures. The friction encountered in enforcing even this body of laws indicates the difficulties that arise when public restrictions come into conflict with private enterprises. True, it is a crime to waste the fertility of the soil on which the very existence of the race depends; but until all our traditions change, the only punishment that will be visited upon the offender is not from the legally constituted State but from nature herself. He whose will is to rob and skin the land may not be reached by legal process, but he must be taught that the penalties which an outraged nature exacts are as inexorable as the Blind Goddess ever pronounced.
While there always will be fools that can learn only in the school of experience, yet the great majority are glad to find an easier and cheaper way.
Back of the Conservation of the farm must lie the education of the farmer; and greater than all the other problems of Conservation is this one. We are barely entering upon this field, for the reason that the fund of knowledge upon which this education is to be based has been but recently acquired. Our knowledge of the soil in its relation to plant growth, the control of plant diseases, and the laws of plant improvement, have all come to us in recent years. Still, much as there is yet to determine, there is already a vast fund of knowledge of untold worth; but means are not yet provided for making it useful and effective.
Speaking for North Dakota, such natural resources as she possesses, aside from her soils, are being well protected and conserved through public measures already in force. Her vast fields of lignite coal underlain with valuable clays have been withdrawn from homestead entry, and hereafter only surface rights in these lands will be granted.
Such forests as the State originally had have long since passed into private hands, and the land has mostly been cleared for farming. In North Dakota, forestry, like agriculture, will be operated by the individual land owners for their direct if not immediate benefit. It may be found advisable to plant public forests in parts of the Bad Lands and other rough areas, but by far the greater part of tree planting will be done upon small areas on the individual farms. The State already encourages such planting by a bounty paid in the remission of taxes. This is not enough. The land owner in most cases does not know what trees will prove the most profitable, nor how they may best be grown. Here again the one necessity is education. Object lessons in tree planting should be established in each community, and all pupils in the public schools should be shown how to grow a grove of trees. Such a system would produce immeasurably greater results in the way of timber production than would come from the public forests, important as these doubtless are.
But agricultural education will conserve something more than the fertility of the soil and the vitality and purity of our crops. It means also the conservation of a prosperous, virile, self-dependent, and intelligent people. It means a prosperous people, for no cost of education of the right kind was ever known to impoverish a people, and no expenditure rightly made could ever equal the gain. Conservation can never be expected of the ignorant. Conservation is but the larger and more altruistic expression of the term known as thrift; and ignorance and poverty know it not. The means for extending and improving agricultural education will develop and expand in the same measure that we apply ourselves to the problem.
Agricultural colleges have not rendered the assistance that they should in extending agricultural education, because their field has been too restricted. Excellent as their instruction may be, it reaches only a very small percentage of our people directly. Their scope and activities must be enlarged till their influence is felt in every community. They should not be shut out from participating in the work of general education as they now are in many instances. In a measure we repudiate the findings of science, and discount the progress we have made, in not providing a wider application for our researches. There is at present no adequate means for the dissemination of the vast body of knowledge that alone will save to us our own great underlying industry of agriculture.
The world has oftentimes tried the experiment of building a State upon other foundations than that of a conservative agriculture and an intelligent and prosperous agricultural class, and always with the same fatal outcome. The grandeur of cities, the glory and might of great armies, the highest culture in the arts, and the noblest of religions and philosophies, will not suffice to save the nation that knows not nature and defies her laws. That State but hastens the day of its own destruction that fails to train its citizens in the right use and management of their land holdings. No jealous interest of whatever worth in itself should be given consideration at the expense of that which maintains all of our interests.
North Dakota has been favored by nature with a soil so productive that, properly tilled and conserved, it will feed one-tenth of the present population ofthe entire Nation. It is an asset such as few nations ever possessed, and it should be so safeguarded that its great contribution to the Nation's existence may steadily increase. The one way to do this is to teach the land owners that Conservation in agriculture means not only patriotism and good citizenship but prosperity as well, that useful education at any price is always cheap and ignorance costly, and that no values can be more stable and certain than those lying in productive farm lands.
The patriotic sentiment that leads men to sacrifice time and money that our natural resources may be conserved is most commendable. Of still more service is he who aids in developing a system of education that shall teach men to conserve the natural resources entrusted to their own hands. The task is a great one, but not beyond the range of possibility; and upon its successful accomplishment rests the welfare of the whole Nation.
William R. LazenbyOhio State UniversityChairman Executive Committee of the Society for Horticultural Science
The welfare of our country, as well as that of the States composing it, depends on a wise Conservation of its rich and varied natural resources. Many of these resources have been so bountiful, and apparently so inexhaustible, that we have drawn upon them without a thought of their limitations of the dire effects of their exhaustion.
Speaking especially for Ohio, I trust it will be understood that by "Conservation" I mean an honest effort to make that State a good one to live in for all of us now there, and for all who may come after us.
In addition to the three problems named below, other Conservation questions will doubtless require attention; but for these, every instinct of justice and humanity insists that we accord them instant and earnest consideration.
1—The Forestry Problem
I place this first, because the influence of the forests is so far-reaching, and we have no clear-cut, well-defined policy in Ohio designed to preserve, improve, and extend our forests.
Ohio has an area of 41,000 square miles, and has been tremendously rich in hardwood timber. We have cut down this timber most improvidently, with no effort to restore the supply, and so far as the State is concerned are now on the verge of a timber famine. In 1900, according to the Twelfth United States Census, Ohio ranked seventh as a lumber-producing State, being exceeded by Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, New York, Minnesota, and Maine. Since then she has dropped to the nineteenth rank, and bids fair in the near future, unless prompt and vigorous action is taken, to have so little timber left as not to be rated at all. The effects of this wholesale removal of our forests may be briefly summarized as follows:
(1) We are compelling those who come after us to pay an almost prohibitive price for lumber, and are likely to see an end of some of the most important wood-consuming industries of the State. As a source of wood supply our forests touch the interests of all. We are a universally wood-consuming as well as food-consuming people.
(2) The recent floods in the river-valleys of Ohio, which have caused losses of life and of property valued at millions, have followed and will continue to follow the denudation of our hills by excessive tree-cutting, followed by fire.
(3) In many places the erosion or wash caused by the rapid run-off of the rain and melting snow is reducing the deforested hills to barren wastes, and is covering much of the fertile soil of the valleys with sterile sand and gravel.
The forest problem is the great Conservation problem in Ohio. It affects the State, because it concerns every citizen of the State, and it can only be solved by action of the State and the Nation.
2—The Waterway Problem
In my opinion this question comes next in importance. By waterways I mean not only navigable streams and canals, but power sites on non-navigable as wellas navigable streams. If the forests are properly managed, water will be an unfailing source of power. No few men, nor any special interest, should control these sources of power, for this means a control of all industry that depends on power. Our waterways may not be so enormously valuable as those of some other States, and this is all the more reason why they should be conserved for the public good.
We shall be needlessly mortgaging the future by allowing any special class or interest to use our waterways and water-power sites without making some direct payment for these valuable privileges. This is important not only for State revenue, but as a recognition of the principle that what belongs to the people should not be absolutely surrendered to private interests. There is great value in our undeveloped water-power. An engineer's inventory of all the waters of the State, with their possibilities of power, would cause Ohio to sit up and take notice.
If forests and waterways were properly conserved, we would hear less from railroads and power companies of the enormous bill of expense from floods at one time, and loss from low water at another.
3—The Mineral Problem
Ohio is rich in coal, oil, gas, stone, clay, sand, and other mineral resources. These should be carefully catalogued, so that the people could know more about the material assets of the State.
Mineral lands should be sold only to those who are prepared to develop them, and under conditions that will prevent the improvident waste of reckless exploitation. For the present it is probable that the actual development or working of the mineral properties of the State can best be done by private interests acting under some public control, but the State has no moral right to permit such valuable privileges to pass from its control for nothing in return. It is only by some form of National and State Conservation that we can secure an abundant and continuous supply of such primal necessities as wood, water-power, and coal.
The control of animal diseases and of insect and fungus pests that are spread by interstate transportation, and the preservation of migratory birds, which are our best allies in fighting injurious insects, are vital subjects for the consideration of a National Conservation Congress. The control and destruction of enemies and the protection and multiplication of friends by the concentrated and cooperative action of the States are subjects that clearly come within the scope and interest of National Conservation.
Conservation can only be effective by good laws faithfully executed. By proper legislation we can encourage the reforestation of our denuded hillsides and stimulate the planting and care of valuable timber trees through relieving such land from undue taxation. Timber should be taxed like other property, when cut; but to tax land and its timber crop every year is manifestly unjust.
In order to rightly conserve our forests we should furnish good opportunities for young men to become well trained in forestry. For this our schools of forestry must be well equipped. I am pleased to state that Ohio has made a splendid beginning in this direction; and there is no reason, if properly supported, why this centrally located State should not have one of the best forestry schools in the country.
What is needed to properly investigate the conditions and formulate a Conservation policy for the State is a good Conservation Commission. In addition to this, we need more thought, more study, more science, on the part of the public, concerning the natural resources of the State, with less blind devotion to the old ways and means of doing things, which if ever judicious, have long ceased to be so.
Benj. Martin
I have the honor to represent as a Delegate to this Congress the Muskogee Commercial Club of Muskogee, one of the leading organizations of Oklahoma, under the influence of which the city of Muskogee grew from a town of 4,000 inhabitants in 1900 to its present population of 30,000.
A distinguished citizen of a neighboring State, on a recent visit to our city, constituted himself a Grand Jury and indicted each citizen of larceny. He charges that Oklahoma for years had been stealing from the other States of the Union some of their best brain and brawn, until now we have approximately two millions of the choicest sons and daughters of the American Republic. To this indictment we now offer ourselves for arraignment before this Congress, and pleadguilty, and we are ready to receive our sentence without a plea that justice be tempered with mercy. As to other charges of wrongdoing on the part of some of Oklahoma's distinguished sons, which have been much heralded in the press, I most emphatically enter a plea of "Not guilty," either in law or morals; and time will completely vindicate them.
The resources of Oklahoma are vast, far beyond the conception or knowledge of those who have resided within her borders for many years. Conservation is of particular importance to us, for yet our resources are practically in their virgin state. We heartily join hands with you of our sister States in this great movement, in my opinion due to the work and wisdom of Gifford Pinchot more than any other American citizen. However, his ideas and earnestness were very fully and heartily appreciated by that foremost American, Theodore Roosevelt, to whom for his great work in inaugurating and fostering Federal Conservation we give honor.
Chief among our resources are the vast variety of agricultural products which grow in great abundance. In the same field may be seen growing enormous yields of corn, cotton, oats, wheat, and alfalfa. No other State can excel Oklahoma in the production of these products. We join the great corn-belt of Illinois and Iowa in singing the song of Whittier—
Heap high the farmer's wintry hoard,Heap high the golden corn;No richer gift has autumn pouredFrom out her lavish horn.Let other lands exulting gleanThe apple from the pine,The orange from its glossy green,The cluster from the vine.We better love the hardy giftOur rugged vales bestow,To cheer us when the storm shall driftOur harvest fields with snow.
Heap high the farmer's wintry hoard,Heap high the golden corn;No richer gift has autumn pouredFrom out her lavish horn.
Let other lands exulting gleanThe apple from the pine,The orange from its glossy green,The cluster from the vine.
We better love the hardy giftOur rugged vales bestow,To cheer us when the storm shall driftOur harvest fields with snow.
The following extract is from the First Biennial Report of the Oklahoma State Board of Agriculture:
"Oklahoma is the greatest country on earth, not only because we can grow everything here that can be grown anywhere else in the United States, but because many crops we can grow here are decidedly more profitable than are crops of like character in many other sections of the country."
We join our sister States of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama, and others in the endeavor to conserve their vast deposits of coal, not solely from patriotic motives, but also because of our extensive coal, oil, and gas fields, only a small part of which have yet been developed. The supply of timber in the eastern and southeastern portions of our State is worthy of the consideration and protection of the Conservation movement. Particularly rich is our State in its streams of water and its water-power. The principal rivers are the Arkansas, the Grand, the Verdegris, the Canadian, the Cimarron, the Washita, and the Red, the latter forming the boundary between Oklahoma and Texas. These streams within themselves contain great resources, yet in the virgin state, awaiting but to be developed and utilized by American genius.
I know of no more appropriate way of closing my statement than in the words of Colonel John A. Joyce—