EDITORIAL 



We Must Eliminate Waste 



GOOD conservation consists no less 

 in economies of operation than in 

 the development and maintenance of 

 sources of supply. This side of the 

 question must come more and more to 

 the front, for we have been sadly waste- 

 ful in all our operation and use of 

 natural resources. To eliminate waste 

 by greater care and economy and by 

 more thorough and scientific methods 

 must be our effort. 



We find in several of the leading 

 lumber journals frank admission of the 

 fact that there is chaos in the field of 

 production and distribution of lumber. 

 This has been especially noticeable re- 

 cently in discussions of the yellow pine 

 situation. Over-production and waste- 

 ful milling throw upon the market a 

 larger amount, especially of low-grade 

 material, than the market really calls 

 for. This surplus has to be "dumped" 

 somewhere, at prices often not re- 

 munerative to the manufacturer, while 

 the whole process is wasteful, unbusi- 

 nessli'ke, and tends to unnecessary for- 

 est destruction. 



Then there is the enormous factory 

 waste so characteristic of much of our 

 manufacturing. That suggestive mag- 

 azine. System, in an article entitled 

 ''What Wanton Waste Means to You," 

 points a moral here by naming two 

 towns, one in Wisconsin and one in 

 Michigan, which started on an equal 

 basis but have separated on the high- 

 road — one becoming a dead town, the 

 other a live and prosperous one with a 

 promising future. The difference lay 

 in the spirit and method in which their 

 resources were utilized. Both based 

 their industries on the surrounding 

 timber supply. One wasted its forest 

 products in its mills so that the local 

 supply became exhausted, and plant 

 after plant had to shut down. There 

 was left a waste countrv where once 



had been productive forests, and, as the 

 natural sequence, a moribund town. 



In the Michigan town, on the other 

 hand, a study was made of the utiliza- 

 tion of waste and industries were devel- 

 oped with that in view. The first of 

 these towns represents the old, careless 

 spirit of a country over-rich with the 

 bounty of nature, the second stands for 

 the new, conserving spirit that is com- 

 ing to the salvation of the country just 

 before it is too late. 



We are using ten times more lumber 

 per capita than France and seven times 

 more than Germany. We must not go 

 on doing it. We must provide for the 

 future, not only by increased produc- 

 tion, but by eliminating waste. 



In his thoughtful and instructive ad- 

 dress at the biennial of the General 

 Federation of Women's Clubs at Cin- 

 cinnati, Mr. William L. Hall, of the 

 Forest Service, emphasized this matter 

 as one of the important and vital things 

 'in forest conservation, bringing facts 

 and figures to support his position and 

 indicating some of the steps that are 

 being taken i-n the way of scientific ex- 

 periments by the service to guide us in 

 accomplishing the result. 



Another recent address on this sub- 

 ject was made at the annual meeting of 

 the National Lumber Manufacturers' 

 Association, by Capt. J. B. White, 

 who discussed from the operator's 

 point of view the utilization of waste 

 in forest and mill. This address was a 

 real lumberman's gospel of good works. 

 Captain White said that his subject led 

 into the entire science of forestry. He 

 pointed out how the production of wood 

 must adjust itself to the conditions of 

 the country, those regions, chiefly moun- 

 tainous, which can do that to the best 

 advantage, growing forests, while other 

 regions blessed with a rich soil will 

 produce the father needs of a civilized 

 people, general profit arising from the 

 interchange. This, it may be interpo- 



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