THE HARDWOOD RECORD. 



21 



American Forest Congress, 



In the interest of the preservation and 

 cultivation of the American forest there 

 was gathered in Washington last week by 

 far the largest and most representative 

 body of men ever brought together in this 

 country on a like mission. 



The spirit of patriotism represented in 

 this Congress was of the highest order. 

 Many men were there who cannot hope to 

 live long enough to derive benefit from 

 any work that may be attempted. It is 

 a work which will not bear fruits until 

 fifty years at least shall have passed, and 

 yet these men not only spent their time 

 and money in attending this Congress, but 

 they have evidently thought much on the 

 subject. 



There were many theorists present. Men 

 who mean ' well but whose ideas are not 

 practical. There were also many lumbermen 

 there who had known all their lives only 

 the material side of the forest. The dis- 

 cussion between these two hitherto warring 

 factions cannot be otherwise than helpful to 

 the cause. 



In his opening address President James 

 Wilson struck the keynote by appealing 

 beyond the eesthetic and the altruistic side 

 to the real practical benefits of reforestra- 

 tion. He said: 



Every tree is beautiful, every grove is ple.^s- 

 ant and every forest is gVand : the planting 

 and care of trees is extiilarating and a pledge 

 of faith in the future ; but these esthetic fea- 

 tures, though elevating, are incidental : the peo- 

 ple need wood. They have had it in abundance 

 and have been prodigal in its use, as we are 

 too often careless of blessings that seem to have 

 no end. Our history, poetry and romance are 

 intimately associated with the woods. Our in- 

 dustries have developed more rapidly because 

 we have had plenty of cheap timber. Millions 

 of acres of bare hillsides, that produce notliing 

 profitably, should be growing trees. 



The forest problem as President Roosevelt 

 has described it, is recognized as the most 

 vital internal problem in the United States, and 

 we are at worls upon it. 



Free discussion here will aid greatly the best 

 solution of this problem. Above all, this con- 

 gress affords us an opportunity to formulate 

 a forest policy broad enough to cover all minor 

 points of difference, but definite and clear cut 

 enough to give force and direction to the great 

 movement behind it. In the very nature of 

 things these minor points of difference will 

 continue to exist, and this la necessary for ' 

 highest effectiveness of our forest work in the 

 long run. But we are facing a problem which 

 can be met squarely only by vigorous and united 

 action. 



Mr. N. W. McLeod, president of the Na- 

 tional Lumber Manufacturers' Association, 

 presided Wednesday morning, and among 

 other things said: 



"Such an assemblage as the one before me 

 would have been impossible ten years ago. 

 The 'ruthless destro.vers of the forest,' or the 

 saw mill men, on the one hand, and the im- 

 practical and 'theoretical' denudatics on the 

 other, were as far apart as the north and 

 south poles. So long as forestry was regarded 

 merely as a scientific question but little pro- 

 gress could be looked for, but its character has 

 changed, largely through the educational influ- 

 ence of our forestry department, and it became 

 more and more a matter of business — the pros- 

 pect of doing something with it has brightened 

 rapidly. The fact that the present American 

 Forest Congress has assigned one session of its 

 meeting to the discussion of the lumber indus- 

 try and the forests is excellent evidence that 

 the development of forestry ideas is in the 

 right direction, and that it Is progressing at 

 a rate that is highl.v satisfactory. In develop- 

 ing an American system of forestry founded 

 upon sound business principles and adapted te 

 conditions existing In this country the forestry 



department of the government is doing a very 

 important work." 



Of much interest to the lumber trade will 

 be this extract from a speech by John L. 

 Kaul, president of the Kaul Lumber Com- 

 pany, of Birmingham, Ala. He concluded 



his remarks by saying: 



"I am free to confess that I turned to for- 

 estry with some doubts. I was not entirely 

 sure that Its policy, admirable in the abstract, 

 concerns itself sufficiently with business con- 

 siderations to be of real use to the actual op- 

 erator, but in taking up on our own ground 

 the forest problems which confronted us the 

 bureau of forestry has demonstrated, on our 

 tract at least, the eminently practical character 

 of its work. 



"I have been struck for a long time, and 

 with increasing force, with the fact that the 

 lumber industry deserves recognition in the 

 scientific work of the government just as much 

 as the work of the farmeo and the stockjnan. 

 We lumbermen represent as a whole the fourth 

 greatest industry of the United States and It 

 is upon our use of the forest, the experts tell 

 us, that the national prosperity largely de- 

 pends. In the bureau of forestry I have found 

 that recognition of the lumber Interests which 

 it was my opinion that the government should 

 offer. I wish, simply berause we have profited 

 by the work of this bureau, to urge upon you 

 your opportunity to take advantage of 'the 

 same offer of cooperation which has benefited 

 us." 



On Thursday afternoon President Roose- 

 velt addressed the largest assembly that 

 attended the Congress. The president was 

 greeted by over two thousand people and 

 said: 



It is a pleasure to greet the members of the 

 American Forest Congress. You have made, 

 by your coming, a meeting which is without 

 parallel in the history of forestry. For the 

 first time the great business and the forest 

 mterests of the nation have joined together, 

 through delegates altogether worthy of the 

 organizations they represent, to consider their 

 individual and their common interests In the 

 forest. This meeting may well be called a con- 

 gress of forest users, tor that you are users 

 of the forest, come together to consider how 

 best to combine use with conservation, is to me 

 full of the most hopeful possible promise for 

 our forests. 



The producers, the manufacturers, and the 

 great common carriers of the nation had long 

 failed to realize their true and vital relation to 

 the great forests of the United States and for- 

 ests and industries both suffered from that 

 failure. But the time of indifference and mis- 

 understanding has gone by. Tour coming is 

 a very great step toward the solution of the 

 forest problem — a problem which cannot be 

 settled until it is settled right. And it cannot 

 be settled right until the forces which bring 

 that settlement about come, not from the gov- 

 ernment, not even from the newspapers and 

 from public sentiment in general, but from the 

 active, intelligent, and effective interest of the 

 men to whom the forest Is important from the 

 business point of view, because thev use it and 

 its products; and whose interest is therefore 

 concrete, instead of general and diffuse. I do 

 not in the least underrate the power of an 

 awakened public opinion; but in the final test 

 it will be the attitude of the Industries of the 

 country- which more than anything else will 

 determine whether or not our forests are to be 

 preserved. This is true because by far the 

 greater part of ail our forests must pass into 

 the hands of forest users, whether directly or 

 through the government, which will continue 

 to hold some of them, but only as trustee. The 

 forest is for use. and its users will decide Its 

 future. 



The great significance of this congress 

 comes from the fact that henceforth the move- 

 ment for the conservative use of the forest Is 

 to come mainly from within, not from without- 

 from the men who are actively interested in 

 the use of the forest in one way or another 

 even more than from those whose interest is 

 philanthropic and general. The difference 

 means to a large extent the difference between 

 mere agitation and actual execution, between 

 the hope of accomplishment and the thing done 

 We believe that at last forces have been set 

 In motion which will convert the once distant 

 prospect of the conservation of the forest by 

 wise use Into the practical accomplishment of 

 that great end. and of this most hopeful and 

 significant fact the coming together of this 

 congress is the sufllelent proof. 



The congress closed on Friday. The work 

 of forest preservation has begun. 



New Boston Hardwood House. 



On Jan. 1, at Boston, Mass., there was 

 launched a new hardwood concern, known as 

 the Jones Hardwood Company, Inc., with 

 office in room 706, 147 Milk street. The man- 

 ager of this enterprise is Gardner I. Jones, 

 who is treasurer of the company. The com- 

 pany is capitalized at $10,000, with a sur- 

 plus of $2,000. 



Mr. Jones is most thoroughly known to the 

 hardwood buying fraternity of the east, and 

 is far from being unknown in the general 

 hardwood manufacturing trade gf the entire 

 country. He has been in the hardwood busi- 

 ness for many years, serving originally as a 

 salesman; afterward he was a member of 

 the firm of Jones & Witherbee, which later 



GARDNER I. JONES, OF BOSTON. 



became a part of the H. M. Bickford Com- 

 pany, of Boston. While Mr. Jones will de- 

 vote the greater part of his attention to his 

 new hardwood company, he wiU still retain 

 an important interest in the H. M. Bickford 

 Company, of which he is president. 



The new corporation will devote itself en- 

 tirely to hardwoods and maple and yellow 

 pine flooring. Mr. Jones is one of the di- 

 rectors of the National Hardwood Lumber 

 Association, and is also guerdon of the Con- 

 catenated Order of Hoo-Hoo. The Hardwood 

 Record bespeaks for the Jones Hardwood 

 Company, Inc., the favorable consideration of 

 the hardwood trade of the country, with the 

 fuU assurance that the past record of Gardner 

 I. Jones is sufficient to guarantee fair, honest 

 and straightforward treatment toward whom- 

 ever he deals. 



Lumber Insurance. 

 The beginning of the year is an espe- 

 cially opportune time to consider adequately 

 covering lumber stocks against fire loss. In 

 this connection it is a pleasure to call our 

 readers' attention to the advertisement on 

 the front cover of this issue of the Lumber 

 Insurers' General Agency, 66 Broadway, 

 New York. This is one of the strongest aiid 

 most progressive companies organized for 

 the protection of lumber risks. 



