4.V2 WEST SHORE.
i
Attention has been called from time to time to the which amounts to $50 each to every farmer ha '
evils threatening the northwestern states because of 5,000 bushels to sell. This is certainly somethin to
the rapid destruction of their forests. The San Fran- warrant the state in going into this business, provide
cuxoAlta, in speaking of the necessity of united action there are not serious objections. There seems ho
in the matter of forest preservation, points to the sad ever, too little account taken of the fact that the
condition of affairs in the California counties of Kern, method of handling grain is undergoing a change and
Tulare, Fresno, Merced and Mariposa. The immense that the days of the jute bag are numbered The
destruction of timber in the mountains along the elevator system is now being introduced, and exper-
streams which supply irrigation for most of those coun- ience indicates that it will entirely supersede the old
ties and water for them all, has roused amongst them method of handling grain. The result would he that
the keenest anxiety. They have held a mass meeting in a few years the state would find itself with a costlr
at Fresno and made an organization, and are now cir- plant on its hands and that the market the plant had
culating a petition to congress to withdraw the moun- been secured to supply had vanished. Another diffi.
tain timber from tho market, and to the legislature to culty presents itself in the price. How shall it be
adopt effective measures to prevent and punish forest fixed and who shall fix it? If bags are sold at mar
arson In this mass meeting it was shown that the ket price, where is the saving to the farmer gave in the
shcep-hcrdcrs are responsible for most of these moun- mutter of penitentiary expenses? If less than market
tain fires, which they start willfully and with malice, price, how much less, and how will it bo arranged so
It was further shown that a large majority of the flock- that it can always be kept less? If the " bag trust"
masters in that section are aliens, as are their herders, should put the prices down below cost of mnnufac-
ami they do,, t own an acre of sheep-walk anywhere, ture at the penitentiary, will the factory be kept run-
1 heir iWks feed upon the private property of others ningor be closed down? There seems to be several
or upon the pub lie domain, and the shepherds burn serious objections to the embarking of the state in
he timber to make next year's pasture upon the clear- this project, the greatest of which is that the article
g It was shown also hat along the rivers which proposed to be manufactured gives promise of soon
supply those counties with water, where a few years falling into disuse,
ago were dense and noble forests, now not a tree
to st LnTr Pr0"C ftml ChTJ tr"nk8 reiUain In hU re',ort the of t,ie ierior calls at-
11 r grW Th Vi8ftHa tCntin 10 th0 raI,idit? with wh"h the governments
to 2,d.nt 77 6 7? r07n8f",,lic8t'til"t lands are being gobbled up. He says that extensive
to 1 dung, r. ami appeals have finally secured one of bodies of coal lands are being illegally appropriated bv
to T l '7 TT rgftnhati0n8 UX th mlai" MM a"d ration and ri
1 e i i Zf 2 7 7 77T K-:at Car in m,nPnd8 a Pgraphical survey of all public land,
l r n L uh lZ 7 1 fIat? nPXt 8Upi,H8etl t0 Contain coal and hat th0 "7 b
lTt T T "hQ "ZUmn giV0n di8cretionary P such lands L
. .. Til it! z 'r;rv ;on' ,aml ? enforoe pftie-a,,d i a
i! iwiw it,! "8 K'" l'Tt0f.re 8h0,Vn' 8Uch ,erm8a9 coal to the people of that
nd ' wh U, 1 S T MX ly 8trhl8ent law Preventi" third party from playing
7 uny in the mattered coal locaLI It isUi,
multiplied l,v ten to rer ,nt ''T m k' lattw that fraud is the most common. Thou.-
Xlto nlH of acres of timber and coal lands havenc,
t " toml '"tn on the Pacific coast who were but the
From one point of view the effort no l.i . i J,8' f 8'ne Bl)eculator or corporation, to whom ti
ll the Washington leginluC t !l Zn I ' ' tranBfrred 08 800,1 08 tho overm",,nt
nilZZVJS Wa9S"UreJ- T1'hing is going on constantly. It
l-it-tiary is a good one. It is 1,11 1 " Cn""n ta,k m th 8treelS- There " I
to make the convict, m-lf-HUHtaininK 2 to d , 7T IMn ln Ur citit'8 ho httS not bten flI',r0ftchwl
without bringing their lain i competition l T T ' l7?Blti1on 10 tako UP a l"art,r p,ittn oflin"
workmen. It is for this reason el, I V r r COal lftnd in hl8 own 1 ,0
northwest, and the state uses sevLl , II i UUe r timbor riht- ll this can be prevented
nually. A .aving of t,0 cents . bag to tW fll " n qU,it0 Clar' n thi" ifi certai"' !imb?
would mean one cent . bush,! lmK for : I ' T lmh are raPid1 educed to poeHMon.n
n lor their gram, large tracts by corporations and speculators.