JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



Vol. XVII APRIL, 1919 No. 4 



A NATIONAL LUMBER AND FOREST POLICY^ Uipiuutv 



By Henry S. Graves BOTAMtt 



Chief Forester, U. S. Forest Service ftAtf#K 



The policies of the Government and the States during the next few 

 years in matters relating to forests and lumber will be of far-reaching 

 importance. Conditions created by the war present certain problems 

 of urgent interest to the lumber industry that will require definite ac- 

 tion by the Federal Government. Among them are problems of 

 railway transportation, exports, ship-tonnage, taxation, labor relation- 

 ships, and special questions relating to the orderly transition to peace- 

 time conditions. There are other conditions and situations, however, 

 which both from the standpoint of the lumber industry and of the 

 general public welfare demand constructive action. 



VITAL INDUSTRIAL AND PUBLIC INTERESTS INVOLVED 



The fundamental economic situation that has heretofore kept the 

 lumber industry in a state of unstable equilibrium still exists. Labor 

 problems, in considerable part due to the unsound industrial situation, 

 loom up with no permanent adjustment in sight. The dissipation of 

 our forests goes on with no let-up, and still for the most part without 

 any provision for the continuance of the forests after lumbering. 

 Exhaustion of local forest supplies, the closing of industries depend- 

 ent on them, the embarrassment for supplies of the pulp mills and 

 other consumers using special classes of forest products, the generally 

 mounting prices to consumers, are other factors which are calling 

 sharp attention to the efifect of forest destruction, and are causing in- 

 creasing public uneasiness. 



Lumbermen are giving thoughtful study to the needs of the indus- 

 try; and they recognize that many things of a helpful and constructive 



' An address delivered before the American Lumber Congress. April i6, 1919, 

 at Chicago. 111. 



