WOMAN'S WORK FOR CONSERX'ATION 



345 



pentine the country consumes, 

 and most of the nation's con- 

 sumption of wood alcohol 

 could be made from the waste 

 in northern mills using beech, 

 birch, and maple. 



Mr. Hall declared there was 

 also an uncalled-for waste 

 when new lumber was used 

 for the manufacture of such 

 simple articles as meat skew- 

 ers, when they could be made 

 just as well from the trim- 

 mings from vehicle factories. 

 He said the time would come 

 shortly when the lumber-using 

 public would have to be con- 

 tent to buy short lengths of 

 lumber, and means would 

 have to be taken to utilize the 

 waste. Mr. Hall said that a 

 concerted effort is being 

 made on the Pacific Coast to 

 put odd lengths of lumber on 

 the market. He said it was a 

 wasteful policy to buy sixteen- 

 foot lengths and then cut them 

 into four-foot lengths. He 

 also said that from two to 

 three feet should be the mini- 

 mum length, instead of ten feet, 

 as at present. Mr. Hall said that we There are at present eighty commercial 

 cut every year wood enough to make a plants for treating lumber with wood 

 solid cube one-half mile square. Twenty- preservatives. 



MRS. F. W. GERARD 



Of Connecticut. Chairman of tlie Forestry Committee of the 

 General Federation of Women's Clubs 



five per cent of this wood never is taken 

 out of the forest at all, but goes to 

 waste there. Thirty-five per cent is lost 

 in slabs, edgings, sawdust, etc. Waste 

 never ceases. Even when the wood 

 goes into houses, chairs, ships, bridges, 

 boxes, or ties, the waste continues. 

 There is waste in the woods, in the mill, 

 and in service. The causes of waste in 

 use are fire, decay, insects, marine 

 borers, or ship worms, mechanical wear, 

 etc. Nine billion (9,000,000,000) board- 



Mr. Hall gave an excellent account 

 of the Forest Service laboratory, which 

 will be opened at Madison, Wis., June 4, 

 and which will be prepared to investi- 

 gate all practical forest problems. 



]\Irs. Hoyle Tomkies, of Shreveport, 

 La., president of the Woman's National 

 Rivers and Harbors Congress, spoke at 

 the morning session and at the confer- 

 ence in the afternoon. Special enthusi- 

 asm greeted her appearance, as her gra- 

 ciousness, tact, and executive ability 



feet annually is the estimated loss from have won her way to the hearts of all 



these sources. This may be largely pre- 

 vented through the preservative treat- 

 ment of lumber by which the life of 

 railroad ties, bridge timbers, paving 

 blocks, posts, poles, etc., may be pro- 

 longed and their usefulness increased. 



who have met her. She spoke of the 

 work of the congress on behalf of the 

 waterways, and made a plea for coop- 

 eration. 



Hon. Joseph E. Ransdell, of Louis- 

 iana, president of the National Rivers 



