270 JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



centered around "The Inquiry," resulted in the compilation of material 

 on the forest resources of all other countries. 



The work of the Service on various other economic questions, con- 

 cerning chiefly the production of lumber, was still in its initial stages 

 when the armistice was signed. It had, however, progressed far enough 

 to demonstrate its value not only to our own men, but to the men of 

 other Federal agencies with which we were co-operating. 



I have covered in the briefest way some of the activities undertaken 

 and a few of the results secured. Our conception of the responsibility 

 of the Forest Service during the war was that we should attempt to 

 supply any information which might be needed by any other organiza- 

 tion on any problem growing out of the supply and use of forest prod- 

 ucts. It was not possible to build up the organization fast enough to 

 handle much that we clearly realized should be attempted. The solu- 

 tion of one problem ordinarily developed several more, and there is no 

 reason to believe that the same condition would not have held true 

 even if the war had lasted several years longer. 



Furthermore, the value of our results is not confined to war uses 

 alone. The extent to which they are applicable under peace conditions 

 is not yet clear, but it is certain that it is very large. Strength data on 

 plywoods as a material has direct application in many industries. The 

 progress in box investigations can be applied at once and directly to 

 all of our problems of export shipments and with some modifications 

 to domestic shipments. The results in the gas-warfare investigations 

 are more or less directly applicable to mining conditions. The stimulus 

 to right methods of artificial drying will certainly not stop with the 

 declaration of peace. Our fundamental data on the properties of woods 

 supplement in an exceedingly desirable way that which we had secured 

 before. The war investigations have been a wonderful stimulus to the 

 force. Our progress during the past year was probably more than 

 equal to five years of ordinary peace-time investigations, this with par- 

 ticular reference to forest products. I believe that our work in the 

 past year and a half has secured for us a better appreciation in foreign 

 countries of American forestry and American foresters and what we 

 can do. In some phases, possibly many, we have found ourselves ahead 

 of our Allies. 



It is still too early to interpret all the lessons of the war for forestry 

 and forest research, but some things are obvious. If there is time to 

 grow them, I doubt if another war will find Great Britain practically 

 without forests, and in varying degree the same lesson holds every- 



