REVIEW OF EUMBER INDUSTRY AFFAIRS 253 



that error, inasmuch as too many lumbermen regard timber investments in that 

 waj'." 



Mr. Boyle, in talking to the West Coast lumbermen in July, is also 

 reported as saying : 



"Generally speaking, we deal with a one-crop growth — a national resource. 

 The national has a deep concern in the forests of the land. These forests are 

 rapidly fading. There has been no plan of co-operation looking to the conserva- 

 tion of this national resource as l^etween the Government and private owner- 

 ship. 



"The Forest Service is the scientific branch of the Government that has charge 

 of the timber interests of the nation. This department has done splendid work 

 for the conservation of our forests. The lumber industry, as such, however, 

 has not shown a broad spirit of co-operation with this department. It should be 

 the function of the National Association to develop a plan whereby the best 

 interests of the nation, as well as the industry, should be conserved in so far as 

 this great resource is concerned." {Lumber Trade Journal, August 15, 1918.) 



Air. Boyle's statement is directly to the point, and it is greatly to be 

 hoped that the directors of the National Association may be constrained 

 to give his suggestion real and immediate consideration. 



In this connection foresters may do well to observe that, with the 

 exception of Kirkland's notable contribution ("Continuous Forest Pro- 

 duction," Journal of Forestry, January, 1917), practically no con- 

 sideration has been given by them to this most important subject. 



Too generally foresters have confined their attention to relatively 

 very minor matters of a narrow, technical character, passing by this 

 particular subject on the assumption that Federal or State ownership 

 of forests, rather than private, must be accomplished as the only remedy 

 for an increasingly intolerable situation. 



That we may in this case again successfully disregard European 

 precedent, as is promised in the adjustment of our railroad tangle, is an 

 eventuality worth very careful consideration. 



Mr. Boyle intimates that the Forest Service may have some plan 

 "looking to the conservation of this (forest) resource, as between the 

 Government and private ownership." If this is the case, the fact has 

 not been well advertised, and if it is not the case, it would seem high 

 time that such a scheme be matured by the Service. 



If Mr. Boyle's suggestion is to be taken seriously and the lumbermen 

 of the country are prepared to look the future of their industry in the 

 face, a meeting of representatives of the National Lumber ]\Ianu- 

 facturers' Association with those from the Society of American For- 

 esters might pave the way for intelligent and sympathetic understand- 

 ing — mutually and inexcusably wanting in the past. 



