A POLICY OF FORESTRY FOR THE NATION 



1407 



feeling that tlie cause of disagreement between the for- 

 esters and the himbermen is a lack of understanding of 

 each other's point of view. There has been a lot of good 

 time wasted on both sides demolishing arguments that 

 were never raised, or statements that were never made, 

 by the opposition. And as usual under such circum- 

 stances, the less a man knew, the more positive he has 

 been in his statements. Lumbering and forestry have 

 been too far apart in the past. It is not at all necessary 

 that every forester be a lumberman or every lumberman, 

 a forester, hut it certainly is essential that the forester 

 be acquainted with the basic economic facts upon which 

 the lumber industry rests, and that the lumberman under- 

 stand the principles of forestry, before either can discuss 

 a national timber land policy in an adequate and con- 

 structive way. 



To emphasize these truths, there follows a quotation 

 from Professor R. C. Bryant, of the Yale Forest School, 

 who is in the very front of the small grouj) of foresters 

 vvho have a thorough understanding of the luml)er busi- 

 ness. He says: "It is one of the weak points in the 

 profession (the forestry profession) that as yet we have 

 not developed forester-economics who can speak authori- 

 tatively on the many vital problems affecting forests and 

 forestry. . . . Why are not foresters called into consul- 

 tation by courts and Government agencies on questions 

 involving tariff legislation, export policy, lumber trans- 

 portation, and like issues? It is, I think, largely be- 

 cause we have been content in the past to devote our 

 attention to the problems which seem more closely related 

 to forestry and have neglected the broader economic 

 phases of the subject, which did not seem at the moment 

 of so great interest or of such vital importance." On the 

 other hand, to prove the contention that the lumbermen 

 are very inadequately acquainted with the foresters' aims 

 and work, let me ask our lumbermen friends how many 

 of them have ever discussed forestry with professional 

 foresters, or read articles on forestry subjects in the 

 Journal of Forestry, which is the official organ of the 

 Society of American Foresters, and reflects current opin- 

 ion in the profession. American Forestry has for years, 

 of course, endeavored to place forestry before the pub- 

 lic, but its eft'orts have necessarily been confined to brief 

 and popular presentations ; exhaustive and more or less 

 technical discussions were not suited to its purpose. 

 Certainly the meaning of forestry has been sadly twisted 

 by some of the lumbermen when they have discussed it' 

 in the past, and this is reasonably attributable to the lum- 

 bermen's failure to inform themselves, through reading 

 and study, on forestry subjects. 



To remedy this situation why not let us all go back to 

 school temporarily and take an examination on the sub- 

 ject of forestry and the lumber industry? Let the offi- 

 cials of the National Manufacturers' Association appoint 

 a committee, preferably a one-man committee, to draft 

 half a dozen questions regarding the broad economic con- 

 ditions underlying the lumber industry. Let these ques- 

 tions be such that an intelligible answer to all six can be 



made in 3,000 words. Let the Society of American For- 

 esters appoint a similar committee to draft six questions 

 on the fundamentals of forestry, which can likewise be 

 adequately answered in 3,000 words. Then let a long- 

 suffering jury of about five men, or any number deemed 

 advisable, be chosen by joint action of the Lumber Manu- 

 facturers' Association and the Society of American For- 

 esters to grade the replies received to both sets of ques- 

 tions. Every contestant would be known to the judges 

 only by a key number, and be required to reply to every 

 one of the twelve questions. Allow the contestants access 

 to all of the literature on forestry or the lumber industry 

 that they may care to delve into (for the good of their 

 souls or for the purpose of answering the questions) and 

 require all the papers to be in at the end of a three-months' 

 period. Finally let the associations named or any other 

 good and interested citizens put up a substantial sum in 

 the form of cash prizes, say $500, to be divided among 

 the three best writers. Other details could be worked out 

 very simply, but for the benefit of all concerned the 

 writer suggests that in judging the papers plainness of 

 language and avoidance of technicalities be considered a 

 virtue second only to knowledge of the facts. 



I at once hear the sneer of the self-made man, who 

 says : "Some smart aleck from a college can write a bet- 

 ter paper than a lumberman who has been knocking out 

 his 100,000 feet a day for the last 25 years. An exami- 

 nation on paper is no fair test of a man's abilities. Put 

 the same college youth at the head of a sawmill and log- 

 ging job and see how long he would last." In reply, let 

 me say first that it would hardly be practicable to test our 

 contestants out except in some such way as I have sug- 

 gested. Secondly, let me call the objector's attention to 

 the fact that the United States Forest Service, headed 

 by a technical forester and directed in all of its branches 

 by either technical foresters or men who have grown up 

 with the forestry profession, today administers 150,000,- 

 000 acres of land, has charge of about 18 per cent of the 

 stumpage in the United States, and employs some 2,500 

 men every year. It expends around $4,000,000, and takes 

 in about $3,500,000 annually, and will soon be self-sup- 

 porting. It is a bigger concern than any lumber company 

 in the world, and in spite of entire lack of j^recedents it 

 has, within fifteen years, built up a very efficient organi- 

 zation. Any man who has been Supervisor of a million 

 acres of national forest land in the west and has handled 

 successfully the tremendous multitude of details con- 

 nected with the administration of that million acres is no 

 mere dreamer, but an exceedingly practical business man. 

 The forestry profession is composed 99 per cent of men 

 who have been in the business not over 20 years, and 

 considering their youth and the difficulties which they 

 have encountered, no fair-minded man can deny that they 

 have done much hard and exceedingly i^ractical work. 

 Let us make a test of the foresters' knowledge, as com- 

 pared to the lumberman's knowledge, of the whole field 

 of forestry and lumbering. 



