28 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



people, that all dangers would be avert- 

 ed. The lumberman knows only too 

 well that the cutting of small timber is 

 not profitable ; that if sane cutting were 

 used his forests would be perpet- 

 ual ; but he feels as if he alone cannot 

 afford to shoulder the expense of re- 

 forestation, which is to benefit many 

 others besides himself. He feels as if 

 the question of taxation and protection 

 of forests must be settled by the state 

 before he can afford to change his 

 methods. I believe that the lumberman 

 would gladly assist in the enactment of 

 laws that would' solve the problem of 

 forestry. 



LOUISIANA IN THE PAST 



Twenty years ago the pine, cypress, 

 and hardwood forests of Louisiana were 

 practically in a virgin state and unsur- 

 passed for magnificence and wealth by 

 any other state in the Union. Our 

 own people did not realize the impor- 

 tance of these resources until foresight- 

 ed men from other states, who had wit- 

 nessed the destruction of their own 

 forests, entered these lands from the 

 states and Federal governments for a 

 few cents per acre, and thus our own 

 people lost golden opportunities to reap 

 benefits from resources which were 

 naturally their own. However, we must 

 not lose sight of the fact that those 

 same investors assisted materially in 

 the upbuilding of the state, and only 

 grasped opportunities which experi- 

 ence taught them were at hand, and 

 which the Government encouraged. 

 Railroads were built, new territories 

 opened up, the demand for lumber in- 

 creased, and Louisiana prepared to as- 

 sist in supplying this demand. Dozen.s 

 of saw and planing mills were erected ; 

 new towns laid out, and short-line rail- 

 roads built to handle the products of 

 the forests. 



To-day Louisiana ranks second in the 

 production of lumber of all the states 

 in the Union, producing during the year 

 1907 nearly 3,000,000,000 feet, board 

 measure ; the state of Washington 

 ranking first, with the production of 

 nearly 4,000,000,000 feet. Fully fifty 



per cent of our virgin forests have al- 

 ready been denuded, and the method of 

 lumbering now used in the pine forests 

 of our state tend to absolutely denude 

 these lands of the smallest pine saplings, 

 leaving the country almost a barren 

 waste, and the lands practically worth- 

 less, which can only be reclaimed by 

 scientific methods, and the planting of 

 trees. 



These lands must remain barren until 

 our parochial, state, and National gov- 

 ernments adopt a system that will tend 

 to reforest these lands, and when this is 

 vlone, fully fifty years must elapse 

 before such areas become profitable. 

 In the meantime, soil erosion takes 

 place ; floods become frequent and evils 

 of various kinds overtake us. At the 

 present rate in which we are denuding 

 our forests they cannot last twenty 

 years longer, and it is a fact that in ten 

 years' time over three-fourths of our 

 forests will have disappeared. Already, 

 experienced lumbermen and close ob- 

 servers see the beginning of the end and 

 realize the magnitude of the disasters 

 that must surely follow — we know what 

 has hapened to Europe and Asia. Shall 

 we adopt safe and sane measures that 

 will protect us or must we actually wit- 

 ness the calamities that must surely be- 

 fall us if we remain careless and indif- 

 ferent before we take action? 



The question that naturally arises 

 after a person begins to realize that a 

 crisis is approaching, and in a vague 

 sort of way sees the dangers that con- 

 front him is — what shall we do? 



THE ANSWER 



It does not take a wise man to answer 

 quickly. Protect your remaining forests 

 and commence at once the reforestation 

 of your denuded areas. Enact strin- 

 gent forestry laws that will protect the 

 state and Nation. 



Ex-President Roosevelt says that it 

 is the duty of the Federal government 

 to cooperate with the state, in order to 

 conserve the natural resources of our 

 whole country. Hon. Wm. J. Bryan 

 says of this subject: "Money spent in 

 the care of the life and health of the 



