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THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE: VVABHIMGTON, D. O., MAY 20, 1882
4
I'he Hatiohal Tbibohe
(Estabusheo 1877.)
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY.
TOCAflCFOflmM WHO HAS DOflNE THE CATTLE, AND FOB
H18 WI&J A.'.O OWHANS." ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
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615 Fifteenth Street, Washington, D. C.
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vgjS
The validity of the public debt of the United
States, authorized dy law, including oebts incurred tor
payment Or pensions and oounties for gerviceg in sup
pressing insurrection or receluon, shall not be ques
tioned." Sec. 4, Art. XIV, Constitution of'the United
States.
ChTtSCD AT THE WASHGTON TOCf-OFFICS AS SEGO2-CLASS MiTTCH.
WASHINGTON, D. C, MAY 20, 1SS2.
In foricardir-j his subscription for The
National Teibun u.from Lawrence, Mass.,
Gen. GcGp-i S. Merrill, Commander-in-Chief of
the Grand Army of the Republic, says :
"The bold advocacy of The NATIONAL
TniBUNE of the rigltfs of the soldier elicits my
hearty approval. Keep on as yon have, begun,
and do not consider your uorh accomplished
until every soldier who is entitled to a pension
receives it, and every soldier's widow and every
soldier's child arc provided for by the Govern
ment. (Signed) Geo. S. Mekrill."
Official Organ of the Grand Army.
Executive Committee Sixteenth
National Encampment G. A. R.,
Baltimore, March 31, 1S32.
To the Editor National Tribune.
Sib: lam so much incased icith the fearless
advocacy of the soldier's interests jiwsucd by
your paper ihat I have taken a personal interest
in introducing it into this Department. I fur
ther desire to make it the official organ of
tijis COMMITTEE, and will furnish yowiccckly
with so much of this committee's correspondence
an will be interesting to our comrades throughout
the country who intend visiting this city on the
occaMon of the assembling of'the. National En
ca"Mimenl, in June next.
Yours, very truly,
W.ai. E. W. ROSS,
Chair m a n Executive Com m iltce.
Tjie National Tribune is the only
journal that makes a specialty of Grand
Army news, and its weekly reports from the
various Posts are alone worth the subscrip
tion price one dollar per year.
A colored bishop was ejected from a car
on one of the Southern railroads, the .other
day, and we observe that General Smalls,
the colored ex-congressman from South Car
olina, was refused admission, to the Revere
House, Boston, last week. And yet " the
colored troops fought nolfiy."
It is the duty of soldiers to stand by each
other, and not the less because they came
off uninjured from the field of battle ought
they to interest themselves in all questions
relating to jiension legislation. The senti
ment of comradeship should impel them to
second the efforts of their less fortunate
brothera to secure justice at the hands of
Congress, and th'ey cannot make a better
beginning than by subscribing for The Na
tional Tribune, the unfailing champion
of the soldier's cause.
The coming National Encampment of the
Grand Army of lbs Republic, at Baltimore,
on the 21st of June, promises to be, in many
respects, the most notable gathering of the
Order that has taken place since it was
founded. The attendance will probably
reach fifteen or twenty thousand, and as the
great majority of the Posts will be in uni
form, the opening parade will unquestion
ably be a very imposing spectacle. Our
readers will find a full account, in our Balti
more correspondence, of the arrangements
that have been made for the reception and
entertainment of the Veterans, and it will be
observed that they are of the most liberal
and generous character. The City Council
of Baltimore has appropriated the sum of
five thousand dollars towards defraying the
expenses of the occasion, and private contri
butions will swell the available fund to
fifteen or twenty thousand dollars. The
programme of festivities, so far as it has
Ixjen decided upon, embraces a grand street
parade on the first day of the encampment,
which will be participated in by 3,000 mili
tia, including several well known confeder
ate organizations from Virginia; a grand
Camp-fire and .banquet in the evening at
Schuetzen Park, and an excursion down the
Chesapeake Bay on, the afternoon of the
second day. In connection with these pub
lic acts of hospitality, numberless xmvate
courtesies will undoubtedly be extended to
the Veterans, and the hearts, as well as the
houses of the good people of .Baltimore, will
be thrown open to them. "We may be oure
they will prove worthy of their welcome.
One hundred millions for pensions and
one hundred and fifty millions for the le
duction of the national debt now, which is
the more sacred debt of the two?
m
The Victors- Uulf Worn
As will be seen by teference to our news
columns the consideration of the annual
pension appropriation bill has been con
cluded in committee, and the amount recom
mended fixed at $100,000,000, including a
provision for the employment of 1,210 addi
tional clerks in the Pension Bureau. TnE
National Tribune, on the best of author
ity, predicted this result several weeks ago,
in advance of all other journals, so that our
readers will not be taken b3r surprise at the
announcement, but their gratification will
be none the less keen and intense on that
account. It is true that the bill has not
yet come up in cither House for discussion
and when it does receive consideration will
be subject to endless amendment., but the sen
timent of the majority in both chambers, as
revealed by the individual expressions of
the members in public debate and private
discussion, is such that we cannot doubt its
final passage in substantially its present
form. The feature of the measure about
whose adoption we are most solicitous, we
need hardly say, is that which provides for
an increase in the force of the Pension Office.
The National Tribune long ago pointed
out the necessity for this increase and sup
ported its arguments with indisputable facts
and figures. It demonstrated that without
such an increase- it would require at
least ten years to dispose of the accumu
lated business before the Bureau to say
nothing of the claims that may hereafter bo
filed thereby entailing upon many thou
sands of deserving men a vast amount of
unnecessary suffering, and, moreover, that
in the end it would cost the Government
quite as dearly, and it has lost no opportu
nity of enforcing its views upon Congress.
At first its appeals met with no response.
It had to contend, on the one hand, with
the lukewarmness of our Representatives,
and on the other with the open hostility of
the daily press, and the cause of the soldier
looked hopeless inc" ecd. But as time went
on, and the applications for pensions kept
piling up in the Pension Office, the justice
of The National Tribune's demands be
gan to obtain recognition, and when Com
missioner Dudley succeeded Mr. Bentloy it
found in him an invaluable ally. Ilis lucid
report to Congress concerning the condition
of his office, the obstacles which barred the
way to a speedy adjudication of pending
claims, and the number of additional clerks
that would be required to dispose of the
arrears of work, sustained, in every respect,
the position of The National Tribune,
and carried conviction with it. Although,
as we have said, it remains to be seen
whether or not Congress will sustain the
action of the Committee, we cannot keep
from thinking that tha victory is already
morc than half won. The publicity which
has been given through these columns to
the essential facts involved in this question
has served to cause a wide-Spread public
interest in it, ami public sentiment is over
whelmingly in favor of granting the increase
asked for. It is to be expected that tho
measure will bo antagonized on the flocr of
both House? by Irrecoucilablcs of the Beck
stripe, but it carries on its face such proof
of its justice and reasonableness that discus
sion, we are confident, will only increase the
number of its- supporterv.. J ust how far this
gratifying condition of things is attributable
to the labors of The National Tribune
avc are quite content to lee our readers
decide for themselves.
The Issue Squarely To:."2l.
At the close of the war, when the brave
men who composed the armies of the
Republic were mustered out of service
and forced to seek civil employment, the
ability of the country to reabsoib such a
vast body of labor became a question of
supreme importance. . There is but one other
instance in English history of the accom
plishment of such a feat without detriment
to the industrial and moral welfare of a
people, and that dates back to the time of
Cromwell, when good citizenship was con
sidered rinw-yhcie evidence of military
service under the Puritan commander.
When, therefore, the problem of furnishing
employment for our returned soldiers con
fronted the country, it was universally con
ceded that they ought to be preferred for all
positions which they were capable of filling,
and resolutions to this effect were adopted
by nearly all the leading trade bodies.of the
country. Public policy as well as the
national sense of obligation to the preservers
of the Union justified this action, and for a
time the returned soldier found friendly
hands outstretched to help him on every
side. The same spirit was manifested in the
attitude of Congress, and took practical
Shape in tho enactment of a statute pro
viding for the employment of honorably
discharged soldiers in Government positions.
In harmony with this legislation section 351
of the code of the District of Columbia was
enacted, as follows: "No person shall be
appointed to office or hold office in the police
force who cannot read and write the English
language, or who is not a citizen of the
United States, or who shall ever have been
indicted and convicted of crime; and no
person shall be appointed as policeman or
watchman who has not served in the Army
or Navy of the United States and received
an honorable discharge." With what degreo
of fidelity this provision of law has been
carried out by the Commissioners we have
no means of knowing. What concerns us at
the present moment is the disposition which
has been shown by somo of the members of
the present Congress to antagonize all legis
lation of this description. A notable illus
tration of this opposition was afforded by
tho debate which occurred in the House of
Representatives on the 24th ultimo on thS
bill to increase tho police force of the Dis
trict The original bill contained a section
repealing tho statute already quoted in
regard to the employment of ex-soldiers and
sailors thereby giving tho Commissioners tuguments of his adversaries with the. same
power to exclude them entirely and the Loolncss that a surgeon takes up the knife
committee in reporting it proposed as an to dissect a cadaver, and with a surgeon's
amendment that this section be stricken out Precision of touch proceeds to lay bare all
and the following inserted in its place: "In heir sophistries and fallacies. Thus, in dis
the appointment of policemen under this fussing Mr. Hewitt's proposition to" put all
act the District Commissioners shall, when kw materials, etc., on the free list, which
all other qualifications are equal, give includes scrap-iron, he felicitates that gentle
preference to those applicants who have hian, who is one of the largest iron founders
liwti hnnnrnhU- rlicnhnvfrnrt frmn iho vnlvm-
teer service of the Union army. No ap
pointment shall be made to the police force
of any person who has not been a resident
of the District for three months immediately
preceding his appointment."
It was this amendment that provoked
discussion. Mr. Robeson at once pointed
out that it made the appointment of ex
soldiers and sailors discretionary with the
commissioners, instead of obligatory upon
them as provided bjT the existing statute,
and that it ainounted'virtually to a repeal
of the latter keening the promise to the
car, but breaking to the hope, and in reply i
Mr. Urner, in behalf of the committee, en-
deavorcd to show that it was simply in- j
tended to harmonize the statute with the
general law providing that preference should j
be given the Union soldier over the civilian I
in filling public offices. As the debate pro-
ceeded, however, the mound was cut from)
rnuier hi . hir 4,a ct i,i;cirmf-, rf liJ
.UUW. ."4AIJ AXrfXrfW J J MkW lJ.ttA'JItViM W. .-W
fact that the commissioners had already at
tempted to evade the existing statute by
the adoption of a rule to appoint no person
over forty years of age thereby excluding,
of course, all soldiers and sailors of the late
war and that so far as the Departments
were concerned the general law as to prefer
ence had been a dead letter for the last ten
years. The debate resulted finally in the
defeat both of the repealing section and tho
committee's amendment, but not, we regret
to say, until some of the Democratic mem
bers with the notable exception of Mr.
Holnian, of Indiana had taken the oppor
tunity to depreciate the qualifications of the
soldier.
We have alluded at length to this subject,
in order to make clear to our readers the
character of the opposition which every
attempt to maintain the righto of the soldier
and enforce his claims is sure to arouse. In
this case the Democratic vote of the House
was cast solidly against the retention of the
statute providing for the employment of ex
soldiers and sailors on the District police
force, and that, too, after Representatives
McLane, Cox, Randall, and other Democratic
leaders had made labored arguments to shew
that the Democratic party during and sines
the war had been as much a soldier's party
as that whose votes prevented the repeal of
the statute. With parties, as parties, The
National Tribune has no concern, but it
would be remiss in its duty to its r ..
did it fail to record such a significant I
At
ion on paity lines as that which wa L.v
just cited. Well may the soldier
'T-
Whoso is not with me is against me!
iTmlge Kelley on the TarM.
If there is any statesman now in public
life whose experience and learning entitle
him to rank as an authority on all questions
relating to the tariff, it is the Hon. AVin. D.
Kelley, of Pennsylvania, chairman of the
Ways and Means Committee of the present
House. Abide from the fact that the period
of his Congressional service exceeds in length
that of any other living member, and, with
a single exception, that of any Representa
tive who ever sat in tho Lower House, he is
distinguished above all his cotemporaries as
the only party leader of our times who does
not owe his elevation to politics. There has
never been a period in his political career
when his Philadelphia constituents would
not have returned him to Congress over any
nominee that either Republicans or Demo
crats could have pitied against him, and if
he is to-day as staunch a Republican as he
was twenty years ago, it is because of
his unalterable belief in the righteousness
of Republican" principles rather than any
dependence upon party favor for place and
influence.
It is no part of our present purpose to
review his public career, and to do that
indeed would involve a retrospect of the
most eventful epoch in our national exist
ence, but we cannot refrain from expressing
the belief that when tho history of that
epoch shall come to be written by some
American Macaulay. the influence which
ho has exerted upon the fortunes of his
country will be held at a higher value
than it is possible for any one in the
present ago to thoroughly appreciate.
But for the protective tariff which was
established in 18G1 we doubt whether this
now rich and prosperous country could have
borne up under tho burden of debt incurred
during the Avar, and but for Judge Kelloy
we doubt whether that tariff could have
been maintained in spite of the persistent
assaults of tho Freo Traders. .It was his
deft hand that framed tho present schedule
and his unanswerable arguments in Congress
and at .the hustings that convinced the pub
lic of its wisdom. The prosperity that has
attended the growth of American industries
long ago justified his most sanguine predic
tions, and in the fact that the Democratic
party can no longer present a solid front in
favor of freo trade Ave have a most convinc
ing proof of tho extent to which his ideas
have leavened the sentiment of the country.
We have before us at the present moment
the full text of Judge Kelley's speech sum
ming up 1he recent debate on the Tariff
Commission bill, and it is easy to divino
from it the secret of his Avonderful influence
over the opinions and voles of his colleagues.
Here is no rhetorical splendor, no rhapsodical
eloquence, no sky-scraping theorizing, no
headlong reasoning, no sublime contempt
for logic, but simply a plain, lucid, un-A-amished
recital of facts whose verity can
not be shaken. Mr. Kelley takes up tho
an iflfi COUntrV. U1XH1 lllS aUrOltneSS 1U
fashioning an amendment to the tariff which
would save him the duty on steel and iron
and relieve him of all competition in making
bar-iron east of the Mississippi! Nothing
could exceed the delicious irony of Mr.
Kelley's observation upon this point: "I
am sufficiently grasping and selfish, but
if I owned iron works on tidewater as Mr.
Hewitt docs, near the great commercial port
of our country, and you would give me
scrap-iron free of duty, I would not want to
deal in mines in Colorado or anywhere else.
I should have a monopoly that would be
richer than the best of them; that would
enable me to drive out of existence the
whole class of well-paid laborers known as
puddlers of iron, and to absorb tho capital
of all those engaged in iron works involving
the process of puddling."
But it is in the field of statistics that his
profound learning and mental acuteness are
displayed to the best advantage. Woe be-
JL V W
tide tho Congressman who imagines that
" figures do not lie," or at least that Judge
Kclley will not detect their errors. He is
sure to be tripped up at the first opportu
nity. That was the fate which overlook all
three of those veteran free traders Sprin
ger, Carlisle and Dunnell when the chair
man of the Ways and Means Committee
trained his batteries upon them in the
speech from which we have quoted. Mr.
Springer undertook to show that the price of
wool had depreciated under protection, but
confounded a period of protection with a
period of free trade, and Judge Kelley, calm
ly pointing out his mistake, took occasion to
show that for ten years prior-to the Avar,
wool brought only 43.4 cents per pound on
the average, while during the ten years suc
ceeding tho rebellion, the average price was
7:).S cents perpound. Neither Mr. Carl isle nor
Mr. Dunucll fared any better, and the House
was kept in a constant state of merriment
by their desperate attempts to explain away
tho errors into which their rash meddling
with statistics had led them. We allude to
these casual encounters simply to illus
trate the fact already stated that the secret
of Judge Kelley's power lies in his intimate
acquaintance with the practical, as well as
theoretical, side of tho tariff question, and
his plain, direct way of putting Jiis argu
ments and conclusions. What interests us
far more, is his masterly arraignment of the
.io trade policy of England "a vampire
:ng
from inanition because she has
- ' ' uStcd all the prey upon which her fangs
oiu-1 be fastened." According to an eminent
i'tit authority there were lastj-ear 14,
:,'jd people in England Avith less than
$2.G2 a week each to live on. Think of it.
Lefcs than forty cents a day to clothe, feed,
and house each one of these 14,500,000 bread
winners! No wonder that emigration socie
ties are multiplying so rapidly in the United j
Kingdom; no wonder, on the other hand,
that tho Cobden Club sought to propagate
free-trade doctrines in the United States
during the last Presidential campaign, in the
A'aiu hope that this market might afford
temporary relief to their stagnating trade;
no wonder that the editor of the Colemporary
Jicvicw, realizing the effect Avhich the exam
ple of America's prosperity is having on the
policy of the Continental nations, declares
in his rage that it Avould be better for Eng
land under a free-trade policy if America
Avero blotted from the map ! Well may we
exclaim Avith Judge Kelley: "Thank God,
f our protective tariff has, by stimulating tho
diversification of our. industries, furnished
attractive and genilo employment to the
feeble, the crippled, the early-orphaaed, and
has thus called into exercise the genius and
special endowment of our people. While
doing this it has so augmented the power
and the glory of the country that Ave can but
be a beacon light seen of all tho Avorld, 'and
by the luster of our career shoAving oppressed
nations the means by which to escape from
the fangs of tho vampire of nations, Eng
land." C '
The Agricultural Department.
The overwhelming majority by Avhich the
bill to make the Agricultural Department
an Executive Department of tho Govcrn
nient and give its chief officer a seat in the
Cabinet passed the House of RopresentatiA-es
last Avcek must be taken as strong proof of
the public demand for the measure, and
although it is by no means certain that it
Avill become a Liav during tho present ses
sion of Congress, sinco the Senate is under
stood to be unfavorably disposed towards it,
its enactment is now only a question of
time. The bill in its present form proA-ides
for the establishment of four bureaus Avithin
tho Department, A'iz., Agricultural Products,
Annual Industry, Lauds, and Statistics, and
these again include diA'isions devoted to
Botany, Entomology, Chemistry, &c, and
it seems calculated to promote and extend
the present efficiency of the Department.
It has been objected to the elevation of
the Department to tho dignity of an Execu
tive branch of the Government that it is not
of sufficient importance to merit that distinc
tion; that it is not at all concerned Avith tho
actual administration of tho duties vested
in the Executive, and that it might indeed
be abolished altogether Avithout detriment
to tho agricultural interests of tho country,
but upon careful consideration it seems to
us that these objections arc not Avell founded.
So far as tho importance of the interests
with Avhich tho Department is charged are
concerned, they are certainly of the highest
instead of trifling importance. It is a truism
that agriculture is tho foundation of all
wealth and the basis of all prosperity, and
it is quite as much the duty of the Govern
ment to protect and nourish the interests of
the farmer as the manufacturer or merchant.
We maintain a high tariff in order to stimu
late the growth of home industries and Ave
refuse to grant an American register to
foreign built ships for a similar leason, and
it would, be folly to deny that the promo
tion of our agricultural development is not
equally deserving of consideration. The
only point upon which, there can be any
honest difference of opinion concerns the
charact cr of the encouragement which should
be extended and the manner in which it
should be given. Wc are quite Avilling to
admit that the management of the Aricul
tural Department in the past has not always
been what it should have been, but that has
been due to the vagaries of incompetent
officials, who cared more for the establish
ment of pet theories than the practical
result to tho farmer of tho Avork of the De
partment. Nor is it a valid objection to the repre
sentation of the Department in the Cabinet
that it is not an actual part of the machin
ery of the GoA-erament. In foreign coun
tries, and notably in France, the minister of
agriculture possesses co-ordinate poAvera Avith
the other members of the Cabinet and shares
equally Avith his felloAV ministers tho re
sponsibility of shaping the policy of the
administration. There is certainly nothing
in the nature of his duties which renders
him less fitted to take part in the delibera
tions of a Cabinet council than the Postmaster-General
or the Secretary of the Interior,
neither of whom are directly concerned in
questions touching the foreign relations of
the country. The Secretary of the Agricul
tural Department should, of course, be a
statesman possessing a general knowledge
of the science of government as Avell as a
special acquaintance Avith the duties of his
office, and avc take it that the President
Avould be likely to exercise the same dis
cretion in filling that post as in making any
other Cabiuet appointment.
As for the demand, so frequently made by
such partisan journals as the New York Sun,
that the Department be abolished altogether,
that is manifestly unworthy of serious con
sideration. Notwithstanding its limited
means, it has already done a great deal to
advance tho agricultural interests of the
country, and none are more ready to recog
nize that fact than the farmers themselves.
Time Avas when they laughed at the idea
that science could accomplish anything in
the Avay of improving on tho old methods
of tilling the soil, but they laugh no longer.
It is to the labors andnvestigatious of such
men as the Agricultural Department experts
that they owe many of the most valuable
discoveries that have been made concerning
the propagation of fruits and floAvers, tho
adaptibility of A-arious soils to plant growth,
tne cunipaxatlTU utility of urtllc:.-il fcrbiliBors,
the rotation of crops, the domestication of
foreign products, the recurrence of insect
plagues, &c. There is no country on the
face of tho globe Avhere intelligent farming
is so general as in the United States, and
inasmuch as it is to the New World that the
Old must henceforward look to make good
the deficit in its food supply, it behooves us
to make the dcA-elopmentof our agricultural
resources the object of our special care and
attention. By all means let the Agricul
tural Department be represented in the Cabi
net, and generously endowed with the
means to carry on its work.
American Forestry.
The subject of forestry is at last beginning
to receive the attention to Avhich its import
ance entitles it, and avc note with pleasure
that Representative Dnnnell, of Minnesota,
has recently made it the theme of a A-ery
interesting speech in the House. Few per
sons have an idea, on the one hand, of the
immense annual consumption of lumber, or,
on the other, of the comparatively limited
character of our timber supply. When the
suggestion is made that the time is not flu
distant Avhen builders Avill be forced either
to import their lumber from foreign coun
tries, or adopt some other material in its
place, they smile incredulously, and inti
mate that it is simply a dodge to bull the
market. Yet the latest statistics, gathered
bp experts, and covering all the timber belts
east of the Rocky Mountains, proA-e beyond
question that unless something is done to
replace our forests, the first decade of tho
next century Avill Avitness tho exhaustion of
all the lumber regions from Avhich avo hoav
draw our supply. For the sako of conveni
ence, these regions may bo considered in
three diA'isions, to Avit, the Maino timber
belt, the Great Lakes timber belt, and the
Southern timber belt. As to the first, it.may
be said to bo already practically exhausted.
The ship-yards on the Maine coast the fcAV
that survive hoav obtain their timber largely
from tho Southern States and from Canada,
and the receipts at Bangor, tho principal
Eastern market, which thirty years ago
amounted annually to 100,000,000 fact, luvve
dAvindled doAvn to ouo-tenth of that total.
In fact, the supply is no longer more than
sufficient to meet the local demand.
In the second region, embracing the pine
ries of the Southern States, the apparent sup
ply amounts to 11G,9S3,500,000 feet, which
certainly seems like a prodigious quantity,
but, as Ave shall presently see, avi'11 not last
long at tho present rate of consumption. It
should be remarked, too, that much of this
timber, if not the greater part, is inferior in
quality, and not available for general pur
poses. The Lake region, which for the last ten
years has been the chief source of our sup
ply, and is likely to remain so for another
decade, is being stripped of its forests at a
rate that is fairly startling. According' to
tho census of 1880, the total number of feet
of standing pine that year in the three States
of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, was
82,100,000,000, and the cut the previous year
Avas 7,035.507,000 feet, at which rate the
pineries Avill be entirely swept away during
the present decade! In anticipation of this
result, the price of pine lands has rapidly
advanced, and the most enterprising loggers
have already begun to send theirlaud-lockers
into the Canadian forest3 on the one hand,
and the pineries of Georgia and North Car
olina on the other. The -multiplication of
saw mills of immense capacity, the construc
tion cf local raihvays from the banks of log
ging streams into the heart of the forest, in
order to reach bodies of timber that previ
ously Avere inaccessible, and the frequent
recurrence of extensive fires, all tend to has
ten the time Avhen the supply will be ex
hausted. What will be the effect of this exhaustion?
One effect will be, of course, to immensely
enhance the cost of building operations of
every character, and consequently bring
about an increase in rents and the cost of
living generally. It is true that we shall
have the Canadian and Oregon pineries to
fall back upon, but the cost of transportation
Avill be heavy, and it is certain that the de
mand Avill steadily exceed the supply.
This, as we have said, Avill be one of the
effects and a most serious one of the de
struction of our forests.
. Another and this we are already experi
encing, according, to the observations of our
most reliable meteorologists will be the
disturbance of existing climatic conditions.
It is a Avell-established fact, that the rainfall
in a heaA-ily-wooded country is much greater
than in treeless sections, and that the precip
itation is much more evenly distributed over
the year. Tho forests serve to draw the
moisture from the cloud3, as anyone may see
for himself Avho will take the tronble to note
the course of a storm in a hilly or moun
tainous country. But the forests not only
act as vapor condensers ; they also form an
efficient barrier against the Ariolence of tlm
blizzards that at certain seasons of the year
sweep doAvn upon the country from the
treeless wastes of the far northwest and
materially moderate the temperature. Their
removal AAall inCAitably be productive of
climatic chrfnges of greater or less import
ance, and the agricultural interests of the
country will sutler proportionately. It is to
be apprehended that our drouths in summer
Avill he more general, freqnent, and pro
tractsd, and in winter that the extremes of
temperature Avill be greater.
What shall we do about it? Manifestly,
as individuals, Ave ought to make forestry as
much of a practical study as agriculture,
and of our own accord devote a certain part
of the land to tree culture. As a govern
ment, Ave should take effective measures to
prcA-ent the sale of any more forest lands
belonging to the public domain, except
under proper guarantees that the timber
Avill not be removed within a certain period,
aud offer still greater inducements to settlera
and farmers generally to niake a business of
tree culture. The act of 1373, under Avhich
the Government agreed to give a quarter
section of land to every person Avho should
plant a certain portion of it with trees and
properly care for them, is the only legisla
tion that has so far been attempted in rela
tion to this subject. It is good as far a3 it
goes, but it does not go far enough, and
Congress will yet be forced to take up the
question of forestry in earnest, and give it
the serious consideration which it deserves.
In ouii soldiers' column will be found a
communication calling attention to the fact
that at the rate of pay ailOAved soldiers dur
ing the war thirteen dollars a month it
would require one hundred and .sixty years1
service to realize a sum equal to that Avhich
Congress so generously proposes to pay Dr.
Bliss for eighty days' professional attend
ance on the late President Garfield. Our
correspondent might have figured a little
further Avith somo equally interesting re-
! suits. Thus, for example : the average pay to
pensioners is about ?105 per annum, at Avhich
rate a soldier Avho was disabled while in
service of his country Avould have to live two
hundred end fifty years in order to receive an
equal sum. And again, it might be said the
amount proposed to give to this single one
of the late President's physicians Avould pay
one t7ioitsand 2cnsincrs for three months!
Facts are stubborn things, and the figures in
this ease cannot be made to lie. We are in
favor of allowing proper compensation to
those persons who gave their services to our
martyred President, but Ave shall not hesitate
to characterize such prodigality as is pro
posed in the matter of their compensation a3
gross extravagance. Under no circumstances
should Congress vote such a sum of money,
and least of all when our ex-soldiers and sail
ors, who have waited patiently all these long
weary years for the payment of the debt duo
them, arc still neglected by the Aery Congress
that proposes to make such liberal alloAvauces
for services certainly no less valuable than
those performed on the field by brave men.
The National Tribune, as its, name
implies, voices the sentiment of tho Avhole
I people rather than the opinions of any par
ticular section, and its readers are scattered
all over the country, from the Great Lakes
to tho Gulf, and from Maine to California,
lb circulates on tho Pacific as avcII as the
Atlantic coast, in the sparse settlements of
tho NorthAvestern frontier as Avell as ths
populous regions of the East, in the modest
hamlet as Avell as the bustling city, and there
is scarcely a post-offico in the land Avhere it
is not a regular visitor. But its work is,
nevertheless, only in the bud, as yet It
Avill not have attained its greatest useful
ness until it is read in every soldier's home,
and commands the united support of all tho
Nation's pensioners. To that end our sub
scribers should direct their efforts. With a
hundred thousand veterans at its back The
National Tribune will not long have to
entreat Congress for justice to the soldier.
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