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Em Practical Timber Conservation Mf^ 



Editor's Note 



The following is an address delivered bv Capt. T. B. White of Kansas City. Mo., before the annual convention 

 of the National Lumber Jlanufacturers' Association held in that city, June .3 and 4. Capt. White has a nation- 

 wide reputation as a sponsor of conservation. 



The conservation of all natural resources ^^^^^^^^^^ heads of the streams in the mountains, thus 



means much for the present and for all .^^^^^^Vl^^^^^^ preventing disastrous floods in the country 



future generations. To protect and save ^^^fr^ ^^^^^^^k. lielow. 



from waste, to plan and establish a policy ^^^M .^^^^^^ It is safe to say that in all questions 



which shall insure a sufficiency for those ^^^^M ^^^^^k relating to the forests and to the timber 



now living, and at the same time provide ^^^^Kk ^^^[^^^ industry — whether it be tree cutting, tariff 



for those who shall succeed us, is both a ^^^^^H ^^^^^ or taxes — they should be judged and set- 



public and a private duty. It is that un- ^^^^^^K ■»'^' ^^^1^ ^'^"^ ^^' ^""-^ *" ^'^^ ^®^* interests of con- 



selfish principle of right and wholesome ^^^^^^^^B ^^ servation. If the settlement of the ques- 



economics which insures prosperity to the ^^^^^^^^^jl ■'''"^0' ^^ t'°n retards conservation, then the judg- 



nation and peace and plenty to the indi- ^^^^^^^^^Hr ' ^^ '' J^| nieut is wrong; if the settlement of the 



vidua!. No system of government is right ^^^^^^^^^^^ j^| question advances conservation, then the 



which produces waste by providing extrav- ^^^^^^^^^^K-c ititi^ ^1 juilgment is right. It is ruinous to con- 



agant excess of luxuries for the few and ^^^^^^^^^^m ' ' Jjjr . jH servation to make its principles and policies 



makes it impossible for the many to get ^^^^^^^^^^^^^_i^^^dK' ,^H politijcal party issues, for they should be 



the needed comforts of life. And no sys- ^^^^^^^H^T ^^^^^tm'- ^V accepted as necessary public principles for 



tem of government is right which does not ^^^^^^V^^^^^^^^H Wt^m ''" P'^'^^'*^^^ parties for the benefit of the 



render it easily possible for our children and ^^KK^K^^^^JjK^^Ki: i^^m ^vhole country. 



our children's children to obtain the use and ^^H^^^^^^ - '^ ' v^ %<'^ ^ 3* '^''^ conservation and development of the 



benefits of a sufficiency of all these God- ^^^^^^^m ' ^^'^ JV natural resources of human life, of soils, of 



given natural resources. The old questions ^^^^^Hf' j^T forests, of metals and minerals and of water 



of "Am I my brother's keeper?" and ^^BP^Titf''^ j^^^^^r I'ower and waterways, is a function as 



"AVho is my brother?" which were taught ^^.^tr ^f^^^^r properly belonging to the government for 



two thousand years ago, must be answered ^^^^^^^^^^^^^r this and future generations in a large way 



in enactments of law which will automat- ^^^^^^^^^^ as for the individual citizen in a smaller 



ically enforce these humane principles .1. v.. wnil'K, K.v.xs.^s cri'V. MO. way. Its principles are as sound and 



when we forget. axiomatic n> is the principle that is laid 



There are natural resources that can be acquired and repro- down in the Uolden Kulo. 

 duced, some by annual crop growth and some by much longer periods But who shall plant lumber trees? Who shall practice forestryt 



of crop growth. There are other natural resources that, though The planting of fruit trees is a commercial business, as they 

 abundant for this generation, are limited and cannot be repro- mature and bear fruit in from four to twelve years. Capital 

 duced. All food, clothing and wood products can be regrown. invests, choosing favorable soil and climate, and the harvest 

 The mineral and metal products cannot be reproduced. Air and comes two score or more times during the lifetime of him who 

 water are inexhaustible. Wood products have many substitutes plants, and he sees and enjoys the fruit of his labor. But with 

 for the construction of dwellings and other buildings and for lumber trees there is only one crop in a generation. As an invest- 

 various mechanical purposes. Steel and concrete are the prevail- ment it is not as attractive, with laws of taxation as they are 

 ing substitutes. Coal, oil and gas have electricity as a substitute now, as other opportunities which long experience has proven less 

 for heat, light and power. Electricity is most economically pro- hazardous. One must figure compound interest — at, say, six per 

 duced by tlie water power of the country, and is made the agent cent, to make it safely attractive — cost of cut-over lands, cost 

 of extending and transmitting the energy of this great natural of setting out trees and caring for them for fifty years, annual 

 resource to great distances by electric wires running in every taxes for fifty years before the crop is harvested, and taking 

 required direction. There is going to waste, on its way to the sea, chances as to the value of the stumpage at the end of that time, 

 enough water power in this country, if harnessed and converted Ti,g following is a statement handed me by the Hon. Mr. Hardt- 



into electricity, to light and heat the homes and turn the wheels ^^^ pf the Forest Commission of Louisiana, showing the calcula- 

 of the factories and run every street car and railroad train in ^j^^^ ^^ ^^^ commission, figuring the value of cut-over lands at 

 the United States. These water power sites on the public domain .^g qq ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^:^^ ^^ ^ thirty-year period. 



should be held for the people and leased for their benefit to power , j ,.,»,,. . ^ , ,, , 



*^ ' ^. .\ssessed value for thirty years at one dollar per acre and corn- 

 Companies at a fair rental. The state can condemn private pound interest at 6 per cent $ 1.67 



property for public uses under the right of eminent domain, and Cost of land 3.00 



sites not on state waters and not now utilized sho.uUl be acquired Cost of planting trees ."J.OO 



, ., . . ^ ., n J.-1. 1 mi ■ 1 t *i Compound interest for thirty years at 6 per cent 37.94 



bv the state for the use of the people. This water power of the .^ , .. , ^ . j .• .= »t « i- .,.._. 



•jj i,uo o.,<m, iv^i ^ V, .= V, i- t r C;,,.e of timber at two cents per acre per .year, and compound interest 



rivers and streams can be used over and over again, being multi- .,£ g p^f ^ent 1.67 



plied as many times as the water can be raised by a succession — - 



of dams. Thus, while the wheels do not turn from the water Total .$49.28 



that is passed, other wheels all along the stream below do turn. It is estimated there will be .5,000 feet per acre in thirty years' 



and then the sun pumps the water back again to its source, and time at a cost of about $10.00 per thousand feet. In order to 



the same process is endlessly repeated. induce people to practice forestry the state has enacted a law that 



The practice of forestry and the conservation of our timber the assessed valuation for thirty years shall be only at the rate of 



resources are of immense importance, not only for the intrinsic $1.00 per acre. To obtain the best results by intensive forestry 



value of the wood and the lumber, but also in many parts of the one cannot properly trim and care for trees at two cents per acre 



country for holding back the snows and storing the waters at the per annum. That is, it will pay to spend more on this work, 



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