Woodman Spare that Tree, and Liberty, and Private Property

Rex Curry

Media outlets misrepresent property rights and economic freedom. The misrepresentations are sometimes intentional and other times result from ignorance of free market economics. The famous poem "Woodman, Spare That Tree" is an example.

The poem (also used as lyrics in songs) tells the tale of how a man saved a tree from being cut down by a woodman. The poem implies that the tree was saved by emotional pleas and even by an implied threat of violence against the woodman (similar to the modern environmental movement).

The libertarian historian Dr. Rex Curry has pointed out that the poetic plea omits the greatest truth about the actual event that inspired the poem: the tree was saved because the woodman was paid. The woodman was paid to not cut down the woodman's own tree on privately owned property. The poem is often cited by Attorney Curry, an eco capitalist who is often consulted about tree ordinances and other violations of private property rights. http://rexcurry.net/trees.html

The poem was written in 1837 by George Pope Morris, a well-known journalist and poet who founded the New York Mirror in 1823 with Samuel Woodworth. In 1830, Morris wrote, he and another man were walking in Manhattan when they saw a tenant of a property preparing to cut down a "grand old elm" (the elm became an oak in the song) for firewood. As the story goes, Morris and his companion talked to the woodman and negotiated to pay him $10 to let the tree stand.

Morris' poem misrepresented the event in other ways, in addition to omitting the pecuniary act that actually saved the tree. If any of the parties present remembered the tree from childhood, then it wasn’t Morris. It it was more likely the anonymous woodman. And if any of the parties constituted the movement of people and development that removed trees from the landscape of Manhattan, it was Mr. Morris, founder of the New York Mirror, as much as the poor woodman.

Morris claimed that the elm tree was still standing as late as 1862. However Morris' economic myopia might have blinded Morris from noticing whether the tenant used morris' $10 to start a new business, such as the Manhattan Firewood and Tree Clearing Corporation, which went on to make Manhattan a treeless wonderland, thanks to Morris' seed money. Morris was oblivious to the economic reality that the tenant presumably requested $10 in order to purchase an equal or greater amount of firewood from someone who presumably felled some other tree(s) somewhere else (say on the next block?). In other words, Morris' act may have resulted in the death of one or more older, grander trees elsewhere.

Morris' histrionic misrepresentation has misled many environmentalists who act as if every tree is priceless, as implied in Morris' poem. Yet Morris easily arrived at a price with the tenant and the price was only $10. A better title for Morris' poem would be "Money talks and whining walks." It proves the maxim "Capitalism heals. Socialism kills." http://rexcurry.net/doctor-capitalism-dr-capitalism-heals-socialism-kills.gif

Edward Bellamy, the notorious founder (1888) of National Socialism and Military Socialism in the United States used the stereotypically wrong spin on the poem in the article "Woodman, Spare That Tree!" in Bellamy's newspaper (Springfield Daily Union, July 7, 1873: 4, col. 6).
http://rexcurry.net/commentary/woodman.html

The poem was later set to music by different composers including Henry Russell (1837). Various examples of the melody can be found by searching the web.

To his credit, Irving Berlin, in comic fashion, restored a more accurate version of the story in the song "Woodman, Woodman, Spare That Tree!" from the Broadway Show "Ziegfield Follies of 1911" (Irving Berlin / Vincent Bryan).

Below are the lyrics to the Russel song. There are two alternate added stanzas authored by Dr. Curry. The first alternate stanza more completely describes the grand finale of free market environmentalism that saved the tree. The second alternate stanza describes the sad situation of what most people do today with tree ordinances and watering restrictions. At the end is Irving Berlin's spin on the original story.

Woodman, spare that tree!
Touch not a single bough!
In youth it sheltered me,
And I'll protect it now.
'Twas my forefather's hand
That placed it near his cot:
There, woodman, let it stand,
Thy axe shall harm it not!

That old familiar tree,
Whose glory and renown
Are spread o'er land and sea,
And wouldst thou hew it down?
Woodman, forbear thy stroke!
Cut not its earth-bound ties;
Oh, spare that aged oak,
Now towering to the skies!

When but an idle boy
I sought its grateful shade;
In all their gushing joy
Here too my sisters played.
My mother kissed me here;
My father pressed my hand --
Forgive this foolish tear,
But let that old oak stand!

My heart-strings round thee cling,
Close as thy bark, old friend!
Here shall the wild-bird sing,
And still thy branches bend.
Old tree! the storm still brave!
And, woodman, leave the spot:
While I've a hand to save,
Thy axe shall harm it not.

Here is the addendum that accurately describes what actually happened:

For woodman, see my hand,
ten dollars we agreed;
contracts are always grand
with private property.
both bill and tree are green,
and both are made of wood.
socialism is mean.
capitalism: good!

Here is the more likely modern addendum based on what people (especially those people inspired by Morris' misleading poem) actually do to each other today through tree ordinances, watering restrictions and other government action:

I rush to city hall
and socialists I'll find,
to steal your property
and treat it as mine.
We'll tell you what to do
with trees, water and all;
resistance will bring you
a costly vicious brawl!

****************
Irving Berlin's Lyrics -

[1st verse:]
A great big tree grows near our house
It's been there quite some time
This tree's a slipp'ry elm tree and very hard to climb
But when my wife starts after me, up in that tree I roost
I go up like a healthy squirrel and never need no boost
The other day a woodman came to chop the refuge down
And carve it into kindling wood, to peddle 'round the town
I says to him, "I pray thee cease, desist, refrain and stop
Lay down that razor, man, chop not a single chop"

[Refrain:]
Woodman, woodman, spare that tree
Touch not a single bough
For years it has protected me
And I'll protect it now
Chop down an oak, a birch or pine
But not this slipp'ry elm of mine
It's the only tree that my wife can't climb
So spare that tree

[2nd verse:]
I said to him, "You see that hole
Up near that old treetop
I've got five dollars there, that's yours, if you refrain to chop
No beast but me can climb that tree, 'cause it's too slippery
I can't get up myself, unless my wife is after me
So get my wife and I'll call her a very naughty word
And then you'll see me give an imitation of a bird
You may not know just where to go, when my wife gets around
But when she comes, remember this, if I'm not on the ground"

###

Rex Curry is published worldwide as a libertarian and a lawyer with a degree in journalism. http://RexCurry.net is the only site on the internet that collects and displays historic photographs of the original Pledge of Allegiance. Rex collects historic photos that show how socialism has harmed the U.S., and his hobby is also photography and graphic art, displayed on the website. His predecessors helped settle Key West back when Florida's government was virtually non-existent. The Curry Mansion (historic home of Florida's first capitalist millionaire) is still on the local tour.

Rexy@ij.net