442 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



it of lumber, the cement will be used, be- 

 cause it provides greater permanence, with a 

 reduced fire risk. So we expect in the near 

 future, possibly in fifteen or twenty years, to 

 see a natural decrease in the production of 

 lumber. 



This also takes into consideration the lum- 

 ber to be cut on national forest reserves and 

 the increasing tendency of the states to buy 

 timber lands for state reserves. We are go- 

 ing through the experience of the older 

 countries. It is here exactly as it has been 

 in Germany and France up to this stage, 

 and there is no reason to believe that the 

 future will be any different from what it 

 has been in the old countries, where the con- 

 sumption per capita of lumber is less than 

 a hundred feet, compared with the per capita 

 consumption in this country of 500 feet. We 

 will have to reduce the consumption per 

 capita, protect our forests from fires, and pro- 

 vide a just and proper system of taxation. 

 I may say in regard to this system of taxa- 

 tion that there should be no tax on land 

 until a crop is taken from it, and when the 

 crop is harvested it should be taxed for 

 its full value. This method has several ad- 

 vantages : it enables the owner to protect the 

 timber from fire ; it eliminates the carrj'ing 

 charge which comes every year ; and it makes 

 it an object for him to save and protect the 

 timber until it is ready to cut. 



)^ «« )« 



National Hardwood Lumber Association 



The National Hardwood Lumber Associa- 

 tion held its thirteenth annual convention in 

 Louisville on the 9th and loth of June. The 

 meeting was an important one, as the future 

 policy of the organization was discussed and 

 action was taken on the question of uniform 

 inspection. The solution of this matter car- 

 ried with it the appointment of a committee 

 to secure a uniform standard of grading. 

 The report of the committee on forestry was 

 presented, as follows : 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON FORESTRY 



"The annual report made by your com- 

 mittee during the last several j^ears has con- 

 tained an intelligent survey of the existing 

 conditions, and it has been its desire during 

 the last year to watch closely developments 

 and to note the attitude of the national gov- 

 ernment, as well as those of the various 

 states, together with the action of the indi- 

 vidual lumbermen, toward this all-important 

 question. 



"Among the nations of the world, the 

 United States has for the last fifty years been 

 noted as a country of deplorable waste, and, 

 as we know, the hardwood lumber industry 

 has keenly felt the lack of economy. We be- 

 lieve that our association has had much to 

 do with the present recognition on the part 

 of the chief executive of our nation and of 

 Congress as to the crying need for the en- 



forcement of such regulations as will effect- 

 ively bring about a real conservation of the 

 natural and national resources of this coun- 



"We deem of first importance a rational 

 tax exemption law, patterned after the timber 

 regulations of our neighbor, Canada, which 

 will encourage the preservation of our for- 

 ests, and not force, as at present, an imme- 

 diate cut under penalty of expensive taxes. If 

 laws were enacted which would make the 

 American taxes only nominal, as in Canada,. 

 until the timber is cut and manufactured into 

 lumber, then judgment and sagacity would 

 be exercised in the amount and sections to 

 be cut each year, so that the supply could be 

 intelligently regulated to the demand, and re- 

 forestation could be greatly encouraged. 



"At the present rate of consumption in the 

 United States of over 50,000,000,000 feet of 

 lumber per annum, it requires no prophet to 

 foresee a complete exhaustion of the visible 

 supply, unless a superhuman effort is exerted 

 by the national and state legislatures, to- 

 gether with cooperation on the part of all 

 men interested in lumber, to safeguard the 

 standing timber and adopt effective measures 

 for reforestation. 



"Available statistics show that 3,000 to 

 5,000 sawmill men who are yearly sawing 

 out their hardwood stumpage do not know 

 which way to turn for future operation. Final 

 exhaustion of hardwood timber in the United 

 States would constitute an incalculable com- 

 mercial loss and be far more reprehensible 

 than the extermination of the American bison. 



"Finally, the establishment of forest patrol 

 by the government for the national forests, 

 and by several of the states and many large 

 concerns, is becoming wonderfully helpful in 

 preventing forest fires. The annual average 

 expense of this work has been about 4 cents 

 an acre, including patrolling, clearing out old 

 trails, making new trails, and actually fight- 

 ing new fires. 



"In southern California, where the fore-t 

 cover of the mountains is of tremencous 

 •value in conserving the water to be used 

 for irrigation, business men and bankers 

 combined with the fruit growers, who were 

 directl}"^ interested, and contributed a large 

 sum of money, which they offered to the 

 Forest Service on condition that the govern- 

 ment give an equal sum, the whole to be 

 spent by the Forest Service for fire protec- 

 tion work on the San Bernardino national 

 forest reserve. The offer Avas promptly ac- 

 cepted, and a plan was adopted dividing the 

 forest region into sections, which were sep- 

 arated by fire breaks or lanes fifty-five to 

 eight}'' feet wide. 



"From these lanes the brush and timber 

 were removed to the roots, so that if a fire 

 started it would be confined by the breaks 

 to a comparatively small area, even if not 

 discovered promptly. Trails were constructed 

 to give ready access to the most important 

 parts of the reserve, and a patrol was formed 

 to watch for the first thread of smoke from 



