120 JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



dens of carrying stumpage, the necessity to meet the interest on bor- 

 rowed capital and other, fixed charges, and the uncertainties regarding 

 markets, labor, and other conditions are among the causes of the haste 

 to cut. The result is frequent overproduction, demoralization of the 

 market, and industrial instability. Lumbermen are already appealing 

 to the public to aid them to bring about a more stable condition of the 

 industry. They have requested tax reforms, the naming by the Gov- 

 ernment of "fair prices," based on cost of production, and the modifi- 

 cation of the Sherman Act to permit agreements in restraint of trade 

 for the curtailment of production. 



The industrial situation is one that demands the consideration of the 

 public because of the many public interests involved, including the 

 danger to our remaining forests. I do not concur in the proposals that 

 have been made for Federal legislation relative to agreements in re- 

 straint of trade, but I believe that public participation is necessary to 

 meet the difificulties. The solution of this problem involves many fea- 

 tures that can be taken care of by improvements within the industry 

 itself; others require public co-operation to bring about a sounder basis 

 of ownership and financing of timber lands. In any case aid extended 

 by the public should carry with it an insistence that the forest lands be 

 handled constructively, from the standpoint both of protection and of 

 forest growth. In point of fact, the very measures that would be nec- 

 essary to secure a right handling of forest lands would go far in solving 

 the problem of instability that constantly menaces the lumber industry 

 and all the interests dependent upon it. 



A program of forestry should include, further, co-operation in prob- 

 lems of labor, in land classification looking to the development of agri- 

 cultural portions of cut-over lands, co-operation in colonization, public 

 activities in technical and economic research, co-operation in the meth- 

 ods of forestry, and so on. 



The farm woodlot offers a special problem. The public should lend 

 liberal assistance to the farmer and the small owners, not only in dem- 

 onstrating the best methods of forestry and in reforestation, but in 

 matters which pertain to marketing the products of the woodlot. 



Finally, a program of private forestry is intimately related to that 

 of public forests. We should greatly extend our public forests. For- 

 ests on critical watersheds should be owned by the public for their pro- 

 tective value. Public forests serve, also, as centers of co-operation 

 with private owners and as demonstration areas for the practice of 

 forestry as well as furnishing their direct benefits in producing wood 

 materials, as recreation grounds, etc. 



