194 JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



land. Even under the most careful management, approaching the pres- 

 ent European practice, it may be conservatively estimated that from 

 350 to 400 million acres of productive forest land is needed to meet the 

 timber requirements of this country in perpetuity. Leaving out of 

 consideration doubts as to the wisdom of buying only waste lands, if 

 the Federal Government and the States should acquire each year merely 

 the three to four million acres of most severely cut-over land, even 

 allowing for the more than 100 million acres already in Government 

 ownership, it would still take in the neighborhood of 80 years for the 

 country to become assured of sufficient forest area to produce the 

 timber it needs. This solution, therefore, will come too late to save 

 our remaining timber resources. To do even this, the Federal Govern- 

 ment and the States will have to have regular annual appropriations, 

 aggregating at least 10 to 12 million dollars for the purchase of waste 

 land. This does not include any appropriations necessary for the pro- 

 tection or reclamation of these lands, but of course such provision will 

 be necessary, since the desired objects would not be attained by the 

 purchase of lands without making them productive. 



In the light of our past experience in the purchase of timber lands, 

 we seriously doubt whether such appropriations would be forthcoming. 

 It took twelve years of agitation and education of the public before 

 Congress passed the Weeks law and appropriated $11,000,000 for the 

 purchase of private timber lands essential for protection of critical 

 watersheds of the country. During the eight years of the operation of 

 this law less than 2,000,000 acres have been acquired or approved for 

 acquisition by the Federal Government and practically none by the 

 States. During these 20 years at least 60 million acres of privately 

 owned timber lands became waste land. \Miat assurance, then, have 

 we that in the future purchase will keep pace with devastation? ]\Iean- 

 while the destruction of our remaining timber resources is going on at 

 an accelerated rate. The timber holders of the southern pineries, fear- 

 ing competition of Douglas fir, made more real since the construction 

 of the Panama Canal, are bending all their efforts to "retire their in- 

 vestment" in timber by excessive cutting. J. E. Rhodes. Secretary of 

 the Southern Pine Alanufacturers" Association, recently made the pub- 

 lic statement that within five to eight years over 3,000 sawmills in the 

 South will cut out their available timber. According to other lumber- 

 men, the entire stand of virgin southern yellow pine will be cut out 

 within ten years. Whether this is true or not is not pertinent to our 

 discussion, but is significant of what is taking place in the lumber 

 industrv. 



