FORESTS, LUMBER AND CONSUMER 



749 



reason fur the waste of poorer apples 

 or potatoes which the farmer knows 

 will not pay for hauling — except that 

 when a community wastes food it prob- 

 ably expects enough next year, whereas 

 when it refuses to pay for full utiliza- 

 tion of lumber it deliberately shortens 

 its future supply. Lumbermen ha\e 

 I)een trying for years to save by manu- 

 facturing odd lengths, but are about 

 discouraged because the consumer, ac- 

 customed to standard lengths, still in- 

 sists on buying a IG-foot board and 

 cutting it in two himself instead of 

 taking two S-foot ones. It is also 

 known to all lumbermen and foresters 

 that waste in the woods is almost in 

 exact proportion to the falling off of 

 lumlier prices. Instead of cutting less 

 when lumber is low, the operator must 

 cut more in order to get the higher 

 quality which alone can be taken out at 

 anv profit, leaving the rest to rot or 

 burn. 



Finally, after wisely creating vast 

 national forests to safeguard our future 

 against the shortage all these things 

 portend, we now liear in Congress a 

 demand that their timber be forced on 

 an already demoralized market, so that 

 for a little revenue in the national 

 treasury today we may force further 

 waste and foreign export of our total 

 supply and have less when we really 

 need it later. 



THE NEW surpi.v. 



So much for our stored mature 

 supply. With the growing of new 

 supply it is even worse, for there is 

 less excuse and no salvage. Try to 

 imagine the vast areas that ax has de- 

 nuded usefully and fire uselessly, lying 

 desolate and as dead a loss as though 

 engulfed by the -sea, which might l)e 

 earning us millions yearly, a source of 

 growing tax revenue. su])])lying our 

 forest needs, emi)loying labor, support- 

 ing industries. ])rotecting streams, shel- 

 tering game. Now a menace and a 

 burden, it might contril)Utc to every 

 citizen. 



Do you nut suppose the owner would 

 prefer to make this land valuable? 

 Now that free virgin su])])lies are gone, 

 and the cost of carrying mature timber 



for his future operations is so exces- 

 sive, the lumberman sees the life of his 

 industry dependent on a new crop, 

 l^ven if selfish, his interest is as keen 

 as ours. But however optimistically 

 he calculates the probable growth, or 

 the ])rice likely to lie obtained, he faces 

 the probability that we will burn his 

 in\estment up and the practical cer- 

 tainty that taxes will eat all profit be- 

 fore the harvest. We refuse to do 

 what other countries do — let him pay 

 the tax wdien the crop demonstrates 

 wealth that ought to be taxed and 

 affords re\enue with which to pay. We 

 ask him to carry a risky investment for 

 fifty years, with interest to pay and no 

 returns, and also to pay annual taxes 

 which with compounding interest will 

 bring his entire cost beyond what we 

 could ever afford to pay him for the 

 crop even if he has the funds in ad- 

 vance to finance such a remarkable 

 project. 



After this review of our policy to 

 encourage good management of private 

 forests, old and new, let us see if we 

 would apply it to an agricultural re- 

 source. Burn up part of it ; waste the 

 rest cheerfully ; devise a tax to punish 

 keeping it till we need it, so as to hasten 

 disposal abroad; forego a larger tax we 

 might collect by less waste ; by no 

 means pay enough to encourage the 

 producer to improve his methods ; 

 threaten him with cutrate competition, 

 of we can catch him at particular dis- 

 advantage, with resources of our own 

 that we can ill spare for such a pur- 

 l)Ose ; and finally, if he considers trying 

 again with a new crop, promise to pre- 

 vent this by confiscatory taxation. Now 

 is this our real desire regarding forests ? 

 Certainly not. It is only the accidental 

 result of never having taken the trouble 

 to study the foundations of one of our 

 greatest industries. But it is what the 

 rest of the world regards as American 

 forestry. I have had Japanese fores- 

 ters ask me to explain it. Definitions 

 again. We do have forest schools, for- 

 estry associations, state and national 

 foresters, and even women's forestry 

 clubs. But do we know what it is all 

 about ? 



