Capt. J. B. 



White, Director American Forestry Association, Ex-President National 

 Conservation Congress. 



"Forest Conservation will never be a success in America until uniform Forestry Laws 

 are established in all the States, or forestry is practiced in all the timber States under the 

 direction of Government rules and Government expert foresters; as is now done on the 

 Government lands, and as has been done by European countries for 300 years. There 

 must be laws enforcing restrictions in cutting timber in a manner to prevent waste, and 

 according to the law of supply and demand. The timber owner should cut for the market 

 what the market demands, as to kinds and size of timber required for various commercial 

 purposes. In 1650 the so-called Blue Laws of Connecticut had a section as follows: 'No 

 timber shall be felled at unseasonable times, from the beginning of April to the end of 

 September, and that it be improved into pipe staves or some other merchantable commodit}^ 

 within one month after the felling thereof.' This was the first law enacted in America 

 for the conservation of the forests. 



" 'Let the tax follow the saw' should be a universal motto. To tax a forest annually 

 for a generation or more while the one crop is growing is an injustice no more defensible 

 than taxing a man annually for the fortune he expects to inherit fift}^ hears hence. Forests 

 will not be grown by the State and cannot be grown by the individual at a loss, for this 

 would be waste and not conservation by wise use. Let the tax come at the harvesting, 

 like other soil products, and thus encourage men to grow trees according to adaptation 

 of soil and climate." 



J. B. White. 



Director American Forestry Association. 



