Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 227, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 September 1919 — Secretary Houston Says Giant Trees of Redwood Forests Should Be Saved [ARTICLE]

Secretary Houston Says Giant Trees of Redwood Forests Should Be Saved

An immediate duty rests on the people of California, the nation and the lumber companies to preserve the redwoods of the western coast, said David F. Houston, secretary of agriculture, recently in a statement at Lake Tahoe. “I have just come from a visit to the great redwood forest,” he said, according to the Spokane Spokesman-Review. “CaliforniA-ifr building a paved highway through these wonderful forests and Oregon is meeting the road from the north. “The impression that I am taking away is - not~ohly The 'deep Inspiration that everyone must feel who sees the redwood -forests, but the determined conviction that some immediate action must be taken to prevent their destruction and to save them for the benefit of the whole nation and the world. As I passed through mile after mile of these great woods, there came to me repeatedly the thought that there could be no more fitting memorial to the California men who gave their lives in the "war than these marvelous living monuments, if they could but be consecrated to that purpose. “This highway is the most magnificent in the world, yet these forests are being cut down, in some places directly along the road. The road is making redwood lumber more valuable, but the greatest value of the highway is in the forests. “This is not strictly a local matter. Interest in it should be countrywide, for the Redwood Memorial park would rival the Grand Canyon and Niagara. I urge everyone to lend his support to. immediate action.”