(Look Back with Bob Enoch - Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

Fake of the Christmas Tree

At this season annually, is heard the wail of the destruction of forests by the marketing of Christmas trees. The fake is old and bald, but it continues to be worked with must gusts. Once Mr. Pinchot, the chief forester of the Government, took the pains to deny that the annual cut of Christmas trees was a menace to the forests and to point, but that this was a legitime and beneficial use. But the manufacturers of cheap sentiment gave no heed and the chief forester retired in disgust.

Fortunately, a majority of the reading public is well enough informed to buy its Christmas trees without shedding any tears over the forests destroyed by their production. It is not the woodsman alone who knows that all of the Christmas trees sold in the United States each year represent less forest destruction than one day’s operation of the paper mills that make reading possible.

At the worst the Christmas tree of commerce is merely a branch from the forest tree, an undergrowth, or a stunted growth from the mountain.

As a commercial proposition it pays to plant the juniper and grow it for Christmas trees, and this is done to a considerable extent. The Christmas trees come principally from deforested areas and represent new growth that would never make timber. The favored juniper would not make a large tree.

We have no hope that the forest destruction fake will not be repeated again and again, but if any reader of the State Journal has had any qualms about destroying forests for his pleasure he should banish them. He may secure his tree for the festal occasion without one grain of ahoy in the anticipated joy. He can rest assured that Gifford Pinchot, the guardian angel of the forests, will not withhold his blessing, but will bid him repeat the purchase as often as he can afford it.

The Parkersburg State Journal

Dec. 15, 1908

Note: An internet search of Gifford Pichot was very interesting. He was:

“4th Chief of the Division of Forestry, 1898-1901; 1st Chief of Bureau of Forestry, 1901-1905; and 1st Chief of the Forest Service, 1905-1910,”

” ‘. . . among the many, many public officials who under my administration rendered literally invaluable service to the people of the United States, Gifford Pinchot on the whole, stood first.’ — Theodore Roosevelt”

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WEATHER TOO BAD – Post Season Football Game Is Called Off.

The football game that was to have been played yesterday between the High School regulars and the Alumni of the same school, was not played, as weather conditions interfered. The game was looked on with a great deal of interest by those in touch with the sport locally and especially so since “Greasy Neale,” a star of the Wesleyan College eleven, is in town and was expected to play with the former team. Dick Hoblitzell, of the Cincinnati Reds, was expected to have refereed the contest.

It was said that the regulars would have represented the new style of play while the alumni would have reverted to the old style of play in which weight and brawn one day cut quite a figure.

The Parkersburg Dispatch News

Dec. 26, 1913

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Bob Enoch is president of the Wood County Historical and Preservation Society. If you have comments or questions about Look Back items, please contact him at: roberteenoch@gmail.com, or by mail at WCHPS, PO Box 565, Parkersburg, WV 26102.