24 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



.liiuuary 25, 1922 



Indiana Hardwood Men Pick Sale for Chief 



At the closing session of the thirty- 

 third annual convention of the Indiana 

 Hardwood Lumbermen's Association at 

 the Claypool hotel, January 20, H. B. 

 Sale, of Fort Wayne, was chosen presi- 

 dent of the organization. Other officers 

 elected are Frank L. Donnell, of Greens- 

 burg, first vice-president; William H. 

 Day, of New Albany, second vice-presi- 

 dent, and Edgar Hiehardson of Indian- 

 apolis, secretary-treasurer. 



One of the speakers at the convention 

 was William A. Guthrie, chairman of the 

 State conservation commission, who 

 cited facts from world hi.story to empha- 

 size arguments that the United States, 

 and particularly Indiana, must awaken 

 to the need of increased timber produc- 

 tion by putting to work many thousand 

 acres of idle and waste lands. The total 

 consumption yearly of sixty-five billion 

 board feet of products, exclusive of fuel 

 wood, compared with the annual growth 

 of corresponding material in the forests of the United States, esti- 

 mated at nine and one-half billion board feet, is the basis for the 

 frequently made and substantially correct statement that tiniber is 

 being cut in this nation four and one-half times a.s fast as it is 

 grown. He called attention to the fact that the waste acreage in 

 Indiana, most adaptable to reforestation, lies in the southern part 

 of the state. There are about 1,000,000 acres of the Ohio River 

 watershed which are only suited for growing trees because the land 

 is too rough and scabrous to permit profitable cultivation. The 

 soil also is constantly subject to wash and erosion, and during the 

 many years this land has been stripped of its original forests, it 

 has deteriorated until now it is practically worthless from an agri- 

 cultural point of view. Mr. Guthrie advocated the purchase of this 

 land, some of which contains second growth timber up to ten and 

 twenty years old, and argued in favor of State and Federal owner- 

 ship, rather than individual ownership, for the reason timber is a 



Donated by £. C. Atkins & 

 Co., Indianapolis, Ind. 



long time crop and the individual in a business which yields such 

 slow returns is hard to find to make an investment. 



The association adopted resolutions urging the next Legislature 

 to purchase for the State thousands of acres of potential forest 

 lands. Copies were ordered sent to 'Governor Warren T. McCray 

 and to members of the State Conservation commission. 



The convention closed at night with a banquet in the Eiley 

 room of the Claypool. Mr. Sale presided and speeches on the lum- 

 ber trade and the outlook for the coming year were made by P. F. 

 Fish of Chicago, secretarj' of the National Hardwood Lumber 

 Association; Earl Palmer, of Memphis, Tenn.; John W. McClure, of 

 Memphis, Tenn., and Charles A. Goodman, of Marinette, Wis. 

 A'audeville features preceded the formal program. 



Coincident with the convention the Marion county commissioners 

 aunounced plans to create an immense Marion county forest pre- 

 serve which would include several thousand acres of wooded tracts 

 bordering Fall Creek and Eagle Creek, as well as a number of loca- 

 tions in the county to which historical or sentimental value at- 

 taches, to be used as a jdayground for residents of the county and 

 to preserve the natural beauty of the property for future genera- 

 tions. Their proposal includes the acquisition of several tracts of 

 land containing at least some timber, upon which trees would be 

 planted, possibly the construction of golf links in the open areas 

 and the construction of hard surface roads connecting all of the 

 tracts, having at least one connection with a hard surface road 

 leading into the city. The |)lan, which is patterned after the forest 

 preserve of Cook county, Illinois, (Chicago), has the approval of 

 Leo K. Fesler, county auditor, and Kichard Lieber, director of the 

 state conservation department. If the state law permits the acqui- 

 sition of county forest preserves, the commissioners intend to have 

 the county surveyor prepare a complete survey if available wooded 

 tracts that could form the nucleus of such a system are found. 

 The commissioners propose to finance the purchase of such property 

 liy means of special bond issues. They believe public spirited citi- 

 zens would add to the park by gifts. The commissioners say that 

 a number of beautiful wooded tracts that contain a fair amount of 

 forest trees are available on the b:mks iif Fall Creek and Eagle 

 Creek. 



H. Brooke Sale, President 



Frank L. Donnell, First Vice-President 



C. H. Palmer, Retiring President 



