A PROGRAM OF FOREST CONSERVATION 3G5 



The general lack of public sentiment for improving the situation is 

 not astonishing. The South is still the center of lumber production 

 of the country. The effect of the decrease in the supply of timber 

 has scarcely begun to be felt, nor will it be until the center of produc- 

 tion shifts to the Pacific Coast, with an accompanying heavy increase in 

 the price of the product. Furthermore, damage to the forest from fire 

 is scarcely recognized by the southern timber owner. The southern 

 forests, unlike the northern, are not, as a rule, destroyed by fire. 

 But the burning up of young growth, deterioration of the soil, effects 

 of erosion, and other losses, enormous in the aggregate, are not gen- 

 erally given serious consideration. As for the actual practice of 

 forestry, that, of course, amounts to almost nothing. 



When the question of expending funds for forest conservation is 

 put up to the southern legislatures, they generally have several objec- 

 tions to offer, particularly the lack of funds and the desire to pass the 

 burden on to the land-owners themselves. Furthermore, the average 

 southern legislator is an exceedingly practical politician, and many a 

 worthy appropriation receives no attention because he can not have 

 a say as to its disposition. The Southern States, though rich in nat- 

 ural resources, are financially poor, because of lack of development 

 of these resources and a consequent small amount of active capital 

 available for taxation. In consequence, by reason of their inability 

 or reluctance to provide funds they often feel that if forest conser- 

 vation is put into eft'ect it should be paid for entirely by the owners 

 concerned. There is often an utter lack of appreciation of the State's 

 responsibility, of the large indirect benefits that would accrue to all 

 of its people. The practical measure of the progress of forest conser- 

 vation in the Southern States is shown by the present aggregate an- 

 nual appropriation of so inadequate a sum as $60,000. 



Each State must decide whether it wants to grow enough timber 

 constantly to meet its own demand or whether it will be content to 

 go outside, to the Pacific Coast most probably, and pay in addition to 

 the cost of the lumber a tax in the form of freight rate. More im- 

 portant still is the question, shall the State allow large areas of waste 

 land to remain idle and unproductive — shall the State allow its in- 

 dustrial prosperity thus to be checked ? 



Until the effect of high lumber prices makes itself felt, little if any 

 impression is going to be made on public sentiment in the South by 

 statements as to the amount of timber now standing and the probable 

 rate of decrease in the future ; as to what the lumber industry means 

 to the South ; as to the damage from forest fires and erosion ; as to 



