Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 73.djvu/189

Rh white hills of New Hampshire and the great commercial and manufacturing interests dependent thereupon an argument may be made almost or quite as strong as that for the protection of the Southern Appalachian forests.

Nine years ago the struggle began for the establishment of national forests first in the southern Appalachians, and then in the White Mountains. In the fifty-ninth Congress this effort almost succeeded. The bill was unanimously passed by the Senate and reported without dissent for passage by the House Committee on Agriculture. The president approved it in advance and strongly urged its passage. Through the opposition, however, as is generally understood, of the speaker, this bill could not be brought to a vote in the House. The fifty-ninth Congress did, however, appropriate $25,000 for surveying the Appalachian-White Mountain area. In the summer following, the survey was made and the report was made at the first session of the sixtieth Congress. Appalachian bills were promptly introduced into both Houses. The House bills went to the Committee on Agriculture. Here, on January 30, a hearing was had. It lasted an entire day and was of a character apparently to convince all who were open to conviction. Later, however, the constitutional question was raised and the bill was sent to the House Committee on Judiciary. A hearing was had before this committee on February 27, the arguments for and against

 It is 60 feet wide, and was hastily cut through a Dense Sapling Stand. Litter scraped up on the right. Beede, Adirondack Mountains, N. Y.