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Report of the Secretary of Agriculture in relation to the forests, rivers, and mountains of the southern Appalachian region

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  • SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN REGION. 171 is called, in reply, to the accompanying letter from the Secretary of Agriculture, in which he says: "I am entirely confident that very- soon after its creation the proposed reserve would, under conservative forestry, be self-supporting from the sale of timber." Further, it may be said that many European forests, under government supervision, yield a net annual income from the sale of timber and other products of from $1 to $2 per acre or more. While no such income is expected to result from the proposed reserve in the immediate future, yet it is confidently expected that in the course of a few years this reserve will be self-supporting; and that subsequently, as the hardwood forests of other regions are cut away and the country more thickly settled, the sale of timber and other products from this reserve will ydeld a considerable net profit. Other important questions connected with this measure which have been considered by the committee are fully answered in the statement which follows from the Secretary of Agriculture. The memorial of the Appalachian National Park Association and other documents are added. The legislatures of the several States within which the proposed forest reserve may be located, with a single exception, have already conferred upon Congress the necessary authority to acquire lands within their boundaries. In the case of the exception a resolution which indorses the plan has passed both houses of the legislature, and further action may confidently be expected in due time. This is a measure which has every consideration in its favor; and, in view of its importance and the beneficent results which will certainly flow from its adoption, it should commend itself to the wisdom of Congress, as it must appeal to the patriotism of every citizen. APPENDIX. February 9, 1901. My Dear Senator: I am in receipt of your letter of this date, in which yon ask for an expression of my opinion regarding Senate bill 5518, which provides for the purchase of a forest reserve in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. After a thorough investigation of the forest conditions of this region, I am heartily in favor of the creation of the proposed reserve and of Mr. Pritchard's hill. The region in which it is proposed to locate this reserve contains the finest hard-wood forests yet remaining in the United States; it is admirably adapted to the purposes of a public resort for health and recreation; the land may he purchased at a reasonable price; the preservation of the forest is essential not only to the well-being of the region itself, but to that of great rivers which flow from it and to the interests they subserve; and 1 am entirely confident that very soon after its creation the proposed reserve would, under conservative forestry, be self-supporting from the sale of timber. Very respectfully, James Wilson, Secretary. Hon. Albert J. Beveridge, United States Senate. You will find a more detailed statement of my position in my letter to the President, transmitted by him to the Congress January 16. (See p. 166.)
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