HARDWOOD RECORD 



47 



Another favorable factor which he brought out is a comparison 

 of the loads on concrete posts. For instance, the specified load 

 per square inch in concrete posts is 400 pounds, while the load 

 admitted by ordinance for yellow pine posts is 900 to 1,000 pounds 

 per square inch. However, he said that for heavy loads and long 

 spans, mill construction cannot compete with concrete posts. He 

 said that the ordinary floor to carry a heavy load needs to be 20 

 inches deep from the top of the floor to the bottom of the beam 

 in pine, while but 10-inch depth is required in concrete design. 

 Thus in a nine or ten-story building the saving of about one floor 

 would be accomplished in using concrete. 



He urged the necessitj' for the adoption of standards for inspect- 

 ing and classifying construction timbers, as there is a growing 

 desire among contractors and architects to know more about the 

 actual classes of timber received for structural work. Mr. Jensen 

 maintained that there is no information of this sort of a really 

 valuable character being available. He said that the proportion 

 of stress maintained by longleaf pine timber as against shortleaf 

 pine is as 1.3 to 10. He urged a method of grading which would 

 take care of the variety of conditions presented, stating that 

 because of the long standing familiarity with wood its use has 

 come to be followed out along the rule of thumb methods. It 

 is now, however, up to lumber merchants and timber merchants 

 to standardise their woods in order to meet competition with the 

 standardized materials. 



He also urged that it is absolutely up to the lumberman to be" 

 in a position to prove the value of his contentions and superiority 

 of wood in order to make any headway in the battle against sub- 

 stitutes. 



Henry S. Graves, chief forester of the United States Forest 

 Service, then delivered the following interesting address: 

 Conservation and the Lumber Industry 



Tlie siiliji'il ..r my :iililr.>ss today is "CDUservation and the Limiljor 

 IiKhistry." V\ HI I 111- ,'.ill deal with the problem of forest conserva- 

 tlpii .T i'ii\.'i III 'r iiiHl-i. Our national forests have been placed 

 under ndiiiini 11, n ni A. .-ire endeavoring to handle their resources 



Many persons still have the idea that there is something incompatible 

 between conservation and industrial development. The ungrounded charge 

 that the government's polic.v of conservation on the national forests re- 

 tards development is still heard. As to forestry on private timberlands 

 most persons regard that merely as a well-meaning theory. The difficulty 

 has been that many of those who take this view are entirely uninformed 

 or niisinl'oriiiid regarding the aims and methods of conservation, while 

 otiurs. ill nsiiii; tlie term "development." have in mind not so much the 

 building up ol' r<:>\ industries as land speculation and promoters' profits. 

 I have purposely n^^ed the term "industry" in my title, because what I 

 am going to talk about is the kind of development that means actual 

 production of raw material, commerce and manufacture, and the main- 

 tenance of permanent communities and homes. 



The character and conditions of the lumber industry have a profound 

 bearing on the question of conservation. One of the ultimate results 

 of conservation must be to maintain the industry, by maintaining the 

 supply of the raw material which the industry converts into finished 

 produrts for the use of 'the public ; nor can conservation be indifferent 

 to the conditions which obtain in an industry of such importance. We 

 seek to prevent destruction of the timber which we now have, to lessen 

 waste and thereby extend the life of present supplies, and to grow new 

 forests to replace present supplies as they are used. The practical 

 achievement of these purposes depends in considerable measure on con- 

 ditions in the industry. Tn the long run the perpetuation and prosperity 

 of the industry will depend on whether these conservation purposes are 

 achieved, and how. 



The present situation in the lumber industry is largely the outcome 

 of the policy of the public in the past in regard to forest resources. 

 It was for a long time the policy of our nation to hand over the public 

 timberlands to private individuals as rapidly as they chose to take the 

 land, at a very low price. The underlying idea was that private\ owner- 

 ship was necessary to secure development. The homestead law, designed 

 to secure the development of agricultural lands by actual settlers and 

 homebuilders, introduced the further idea that public land should be 

 disposed of in small quantities, in the interest of diffused prosperity. At 

 the beginning the plan worked excellently in so far as real agricultural 

 land was in question. Up to a certain point the result was to place the 



bulk of the agricultural laud in the bauds of farmers, while the bulk of 

 the non-agricultural timberlands remained in the hands of the public 

 because it had no value and there was no incentive to acquire it. As 

 population increased and timberland came to have a value either for 

 immediate development or for speculation, it was rapidly taken up. 

 Inasmuch as timber in most cases has to be handled in large units be- 

 cause of the outlay necessary to put it on the market, large tracts were 

 accumulated by purchase from smaller owners. When the older centers 

 of lumber production began to be exhausted and the prospective value 

 of the new sources of supply came to be appreciated, there was a rush 

 to acquire such timberlands as could still be secured cheaply. The estab- 

 lishment of the national forests put a stop to private acquisition of a 

 relatively small fraction of the original stock of public timber, but a 

 great deal of land had been taken up and there was a period of specula 

 tion in timberlands which did not culminate until a few years ago. In 

 the South also there was a rush to acquire timberlands. In building up 

 practicable units for operation many persons and concerns borrowed 

 heavily on their timberland property. The next step was naturally for 

 these owners to begin to realize on their investment, and there followed 

 a tremendous activity in lumber production. 



I presume that there are not less than 75,000 to 100,000 owners of 

 timberlands, not including small tracts attached to farms. It may be 

 said that the majority of these timberland owners are desirous either 

 of operating, selling the stumpage, or selling their land outright. .\s a 

 result of the feverish haste to cut and manufacture timber, there was 

 naturally an over-production of timber, reaction, and demoralization of the 

 market. Curtailment of output responding to price recessions did not, 

 however, take place readily, because of the pressure to keep cutting even 

 after prices had fallen. Owners who had mortgaged their property 

 heavily were obliged to keep on operating in order to meet Interest on 

 their obligations, maintain their plants, and hold their organizations. 

 Decreased profits through a Ipwer-prlced product and increased cost of 

 production doubtless required these same men to cut a larger amount 

 of timber than otherwise would have been needed to carry them along. 

 Other owners who lor other reasons were financially weak were obliged 

 to continue cutting. In many instances increased taxation has tended still 

 further to force operation. Over-production therefore continued and a 

 depressed market became still further depressed, with the consequence of 

 local demoralization, numerous failures, and the various other results 

 which follow depression in any industry. .\s long as there exists a 

 constant pressure to place upon the market more timber than can he ab- 

 sorbed, instability will continue. If lumber were a commodity which in 

 manufacture could be shaped to most varying market requirements, the 

 situation might be somewhat different. The market will absorb a great 

 deal of the higher grades of lumber, but to meet the market possibilities 

 of high-grade lumber an immense quantity of low-grade material must 

 either be manufactured or wasted, and it is the low-grade material 

 which has glutted the market. 



From a conservation standpoint, the present situation is an exceedingly 

 unfortunate one. Forced cutting under poor market conditions means 

 poor utilization, for a great deal of the low-grade material is left in the 

 w^oods. It is estimated that in some sections this waste is .30 per cent 

 greater than it was six years ago. Under such conditions, the care of 

 second growth and the encouragement of new growth have little interest 

 for operators. Fire protection receives little attention except where 

 it is necessary to protect valuable standing timber. While owners are 

 now In many sections of the country doing much more than formerly to 

 protect at least their merchantable timber from fire, the depletion of 

 the supplies is going on with a rapidity which operators themselves, who 

 are practically obliged to .nt with a great deal of waste, much deplore. 

 It is perfectly clear. •', - i..:, . iimr both from the standpoint of the 

 permanent welfare m i! i Midustry and from the standpoint of 



the interests of con- i m i iiiitry is losing. I do not need tq 



recount to you the 1"— i" Hi- in! h when a great industry is demoralized. 

 It is not merely a loss to oiicratnrs and stockholders in operating com- 

 panies, but a severe loss to those who are thrown out of employment 

 or who have irregular employment, and an economic depression results 

 which is shown in the diminished prosperity of whole communities. From 

 the standpoint of conservation the public is suflfering very great loss. 

 Its existing supplies are being used up rapidly and wastefully because 

 of poor utilization, and these supplies are not being replaced in any 

 adequate way. 



I appreciate that a good many persons in the lumber industry are 

 unable to take the question of exhaustion of supplies very seriously. I 

 do not think I need to discuss the question of the possible length of 

 time before our present supplies of standing timber will be exhausted. I 

 am considering rather the local exhaustion of supplies and the local 

 economic loss through the stopping of commerce and Industry. It may 

 be that we can go on and waste a good deal of timber in the United 

 States and not suffer for a considerable length of time so far as the 

 nation as a whole is concerned, but I do not believe that It is a beneficial 

 thing for an individual state to have its timber resource exhausted, the 

 sawmills cease to exist, and the once thriving communities disappear. 

 It may be that the United States as a whole will not feel the effect 

 particularly of the exhaustion of timber in the Lake States, but I can 

 not look upon great stretches of barren wastes in these states and con- 

 sider that there has been the right kind of industrial development. Even 



