HARDWOOD RECORD 



which lumbermen are largely interested, and 

 for which they are more or less responsible. Mr. 

 Hadley predicted that with universities turning 

 out carefully trained farmers and foresters at 

 their present rate, within another twenty years 

 the people would assume the task of conserving 

 the natural resources as a matter of course, and 

 without special state or national agitation. 



Governor Folk of Missouri took a firm stand 

 on the forest question and announced that he 

 intended to appoint a Missouri State Forestry 

 Commission as soon as he returned. He took 

 a terrific "swipe" at Speaker Cannon, which con- 

 vulsed the conference, intimating that there 

 was just one man who had been standing in 

 the way of tlie Wliite Mountain-Appalachian For- 

 est Reserve measure, whose opposition to it is 

 well known. "We have all of us heard of vox 

 popuU, which is supposed to be all powerful in 

 this country, and sometimes mention is made of 

 vox Dei, which is said to be much the same 

 thing. Quite recently we have learned that 

 there is another vox, and it is vox Cannoni. In 

 recent times it seems to be more effective and 

 more powerful than vox poinili and there is 

 sometimes an idea that the owner of it thinks 

 it is greater than vox Dei," said Governor Folk. 

 This sally met with a round of applause and 

 laughter, especially from the forestry advocates, 

 as in fact did every reference to the speaker, in 

 a critical way, and these were several. The 

 Missouri governor further declared that the 

 quickest solution of the forestry question was 

 to put lumber on the free list, thus doing more 

 to preserve our forests than anything else, be- 

 cause every tree imported would mean one saved 

 at home. Although he had adherents in this 

 view, his introduction of it was deplored to 

 some extent in that it savored too much of poli- 

 tics — a subject which it had been tacitly under- 

 stood would be utterly avoided. Mr. Folk said 

 the time had come when the United .States must 

 either improve the Missouri river or allow the 

 state to do so. He said Missouri was willing 

 and even anxious to make a great public high- 

 way from Kansas City to St. Louis, assuming all 

 expense of the work, asking only the revenue 

 derived from the creation of water powers. He 

 believed that if the state were allowed to pro- 

 ceed on this basis it would within a few years 

 make the grandest waterway in the world with- 

 out expense to the federal government, and do 

 it ;n such a way as to pay all expenses of the 

 state government of Missouri. 



James R. Garfield, secretary of the interior, 

 made one of the brilliant speeches of the confer- 

 ence. He declared that state lines had been 

 largely eliminated, that the people as a whole 

 owned the natural resources, and would no lon- 

 ger consent to their being exploited for private 

 interests. He insisted that the rights of graz- 

 ing in forest lands, the creation of water pow- 

 ers and similar public privileges would no longer 

 be given to the first individual who happened 

 along. 



Another notable address was made by one of 

 the most influential and best known lumbermen 

 in the United States— R. A. Long of the Long- 

 Bell Lumber Company, Kansas City, Mo., who 

 spoke on "Forest Conservation." Perhaps no 

 one was better qualified to represent the lumber 

 interests of the county at this great gathering, 

 and Mr. Long, always an interesting and popular 

 speaker, was given an appreciative reception. 



Mr. Long said in part as follows : 



"Since I am honored with a place on this 

 program, I am glad of the subject assigned 

 me for it has to deal with a thrilling, throb- 

 bing and beautiful life, which is not true of 

 any of the other subjects to be discussed. I 

 want to lay down first the broad proposition 

 that aside from the soil itself, no other resource 

 compares with our forests. Can j-ou think of 

 one that comes so nearly supplying every want 

 of man? However crude the workman, with 

 only an axe for his tool, he may go into the 



forest and build a comfortable home in which 

 to live. The leaves and the bark of the tree 

 may be converted into clothing for his body, 

 and the nuts and fruit give him sustenance. 

 Look within the house, be it shanty or mansion, 

 and the furniture will remind you of this nat- 

 ural resource. The ties supporting the great 

 railway systems of this country, and nearly all 

 the buildings connected therewith are of this 

 product. The mines, coal, copper, gold, silver, 

 yea, all minerals from the cheapest to the dear- 

 est, require its use for their production. Data 

 gathered tell us we are using not less than 

 163,000,000 cubic feet of lumber annually iu 

 this direction. What of the millions and mil- 

 lions of tons of paper on which is printed the 

 news of our great daily newspapers, making it 

 possible for even the poorest inhabitant of all 

 nations of the earth to keep posted on the daily 

 happenings of the world. It is claimed, and I 

 believe truthfully, that at least ninety-five per- 

 cent of the products of our forests are used for 

 practical and useful purposes. 



They also have much to do with the utiliza- 

 tion of our rainfall, for leaf mould is this — 

 the compacting effect of the raindrops, and hence 

 the soil is kept loose, allowing the water to 

 readily percolate. This covering absorbs and 

 holds back the precipitation, preventing its dis- 

 appearing rapidly by surface drainage. On the 

 other hand, when forest lands have been de- 

 nuded, the rainfall passes rapidly away, and 

 its resulting effect is not long felt or seen except 

 by the filling of the channels of the stream by 

 silt, sand and gravel washed from above, and 

 the result of the waters having spread over the 

 adjacent lands, destroying crops, improvements, 

 live stock and sometimes even the lives of the 

 inhabitants. It is not unusual in some sections 

 for the fertile valley lands to be destroyed by 

 pebbles, stones and debris, carried and deposited 

 by the waters. 



Water power exerted through electrical energy, 

 and so imperative in so many industries, is im- 

 possible without constant and uniform water 

 supply, and this cannot be had except along 

 streams whose headwaters have an adequate pro- 

 tection of forest covering, otherwise the erosion 

 of the soil soon fills the reservoir, and waters 

 running mi.', ii.. i- ii ..u the surface, converge in 

 great t. -i,' , i ;;in-.; logs and debris of all 

 kinds. ~ _ ._ -lilily through the river val- 



leys, i.il III., I, r 111 dams, gates, power plants 

 and ii.~it",\nm v !i:ii they cannot carry away. 

 Originallx ili. iMm is aud even the rather small 

 water c i.in-i s ,,t ,111 ..Mintry were to a greater or 

 less extent Da\ i^ablc. Their channels were deep, 

 their waters mostly clear and free from sediment 

 and silt. At the present time, owing to the 

 deforestation of the lands along their banks, and 

 especially of their headwaters, the breaking up 

 of the sod and the loosening of the soil subse- 

 quent upon settlement and cultivation of crops, 

 these channels formerly deep, have been in some 

 instances entirely filled, and everywhere ren- 

 dered more shallow, until water transportation 

 has ceased and river navigation has become al- 

 most obsolete on rivers which were once teeming 

 with commerce. The possibility of vast irriga- 

 tion schemes in the West depends largely upon 

 the preservation of the forest cover of the moun- 

 tains, which catch and hold the melting snow 

 and thus form the great storage reservoirs of 

 nature. 



The effect and influence of forests on the 

 climate, health and water conditions of a country 

 is evidenced by the cbronicies of the Mosaic, the 

 Roman and the Greek writers, and many of their 

 far-seeing priests prevented the destruction of 

 the forests. The consecration of groves to re- 

 ligious uses, and to various mythological rites 

 connected with them, are evidences of the rever- 

 ence the ancients had for forests. Homer calls 

 the mountain woodlands the "habitation of the 

 gods, in which mortals never felled the trees, 

 but where they fell from age when their time 

 has come," and in his "Tree and Woodland 



Nymphs" he suggests the intimate relation of 

 forests and springs. Plato writes that the con- 

 sequences of deforestation is the "sickening of 

 the country." Cicero, in one of his philippics, 

 designates those engaged in forest devastation as 

 the enemies of the public interests. Greece 

 shows the progress of a similar decadence. Sicily, 

 once the never-failing granary of the Roman 

 empire while it was well wooded, is now entirely 

 deforested, and crop failures are the rule. 

 Caesar and other Roman writers describe the 

 "vast forests" throughout the entire territory. 

 China has paid absolutely no attention to the 

 preservation of her forests ; hardly a twig is left 

 in what was her great forest fields. While 

 Japan, close by, has fifty-nine per cent of her 

 total area under forests, and the government 

 has reserved under its control a very large part 

 of the whole. Compare the conditions of these 

 ' two countries side by side and draw your own 

 conclusions. While practically all other coun- 

 tries are effectually practicing forestry, none <>i 

 them I believe, save Sweden and Russia, foresaw 

 the difficulties towards which they were driftini;, 

 at least made any effort to provide against them 

 until they found themselves importing lumber in 

 great quantities. As is usually true, those spend- 

 ing the most money in the development of an 

 industry obtain the best net results. To illus- 

 trate : Germany and France are spending about 

 .$11,000,000 a year and reaping $30,000,000 net. 

 while we last year spent only $1,400,000, receiv- 

 ing .fl.'iO, 000,000. 



In value of annual production the lumber in- 

 dustry of the United States stands as the fourth 

 greatest, being exceeded only by food products, 

 textiles, and iron and steel products ; lumber 

 products showing an annual value of .$1,223. 

 730,330, paying annually in wages $100,000,000. 

 providing a living for something like 2,000,000 

 people. Taking into account the white and nor- 

 way pine of the Lake states, the yellow pine 

 of the South and the timber grown in Oregon, 

 Washington and California, my estimate is that 

 the life for all is forty-one years. Some calcu- 

 late that substitutes such as cement will likely 

 curtail the demand for lumber. Judging from 

 the experience of other countries they will not : 

 but why speculate on our timber supply, a ques- 

 tion of such great importance to this nation, 

 when definite information can be had? Should 

 a nation as rich as ours hesitate to furnish the 

 means to secure information of such great value? 



The crop of the farmer is taxed when it is 

 ready for the market, and no crop is taxed more 

 than once. A crop of timber is taxed continu- 

 ously and annually until it is disposed of. The 

 farmer's crop matures yearly ; the crop of the 

 timber owner matures once in about a hundred 

 years. The effect of such loss is shown in the 

 State of Mirhi:;aii. wli.-i.. f.vcr 6,000,000 acres 

 have reverted t,. iln- suit... A like condition 

 to a lesser exitur .-xi-ts in nther states. 



In dealing wiili ihe siiljert as it now presents 

 itself to us it becomes necessary to dwell on 

 some features that directly and immediately af- 

 fect the interests oC timber owners. 



I want to give especial emphasis to the state- 

 ment that conservation and perpetuation of our 

 forests and unremunerative prices for lumber can- 

 not travel the same road, for conservation means 

 to handle, to treat, to take care of and save in 

 such manner as to retain the use or benefit of a 

 given product as long as possible. Perpetuation 

 of forests menus so to e.\|iloit the forests as to 



make tli.m ...nn; n ,iii,| [..rpetual, which can 



be dnii. i! . . I ley continuously in 



planiiii-. - I ,_. etc., while low 



prices .1 .i:,y , , ,.l:i. ii,. :iii neglect and waste. 



This cannot bo move forcibly illustrated than by 

 the conditions existing today as applied to lum- 

 ber on account of the low prices now prevail- 

 ins. tlie lo._'s making low grade lumber, secured 

 prin-ipii'v I ..111 iliat portion of the tree ap- 

 proa. Inn- "li. limi^ and constituting at least 20 

 per cent .i ili.. i..r.sls, are left in the woods to 

 the lumberman would 



