What has thus happened in northern China, what has happened in Central Asia, in Palestine, in North Africa, in parts of the Mediterranean countries of Europe, will surely happen in our country if we do not exercise that wise forethought which should be one of the chief marks of any people calling itself civilized.  Nothing should be permitted to stand in the way of the preservation of the forests, and it is criminal to permit individuals to purchase a little gain for themselves through the destruction of forests when this destruction is fatal to the well-being of the whole country in the future.

Inland waterways.

Action should be begun forthwith, during the present session of the Congress, for the improvement of our inland waterways—­action which will result in giving us not only navigable but navigated rivers.  We have spent hundreds of millions of dollars upon these waterways, yet the traffic on nearly all of them is steadily declining.  This condition is the direct result of the absence of any comprehensive and far-seeing plan of waterway improvement, Obviously we can not continue thus to expend the revenues of the Government without return.  It is poor business to spend money for inland navigation unless we get it.

Inquiry into the condition of the Mississippi and its principal tributaries reveals very many instances of the utter waste caused by the methods which have hitherto obtained for the so-called “improvement” of navigation.  A striking instance is supplied by the “improvement” of the Ohio, which, begun in 1824, was continued under a single plan for half a century.  In 1875 a new plan was adopted and followed for a quarter of a century.  In 1902 still a different plan was adopted and has since been pursued at a rate which only promises a navigable river in from twenty to one hundred years longer.

Such shortsighted, vacillating, and futile methods are accompanied by decreasing water-borne commerce and increasing traffic congestion on land, by increasing floods, and by the waste of public money.  The remedy lies in abandoning the methods which have so signally failed and adopting new ones in keeping with the needs and demands of our people.

In a report on a measure introduced at the first session of the present Congress, the Secretary of War said:  “The chief defect in the methods hitherto pursued lies in the absence of executive authority for originating comprehensive plans covering the country or natural divisions thereof.”  In this opinion I heartily concur.  The present methods not only fail to give us inland navigation, but they are injurious to the army as well.  What is virtually a permanent detail of the corps of engineers to civilian duty necessarily impairs the efficiency of our military establishment.  The military engineers have undoubtedly done efficient work in actual construction, but they are necessarily unsuited by their training and traditions