FOREST DEVASTATION 937 



(b) That the flow of navigable streams may be regulated by 

 minimizing floods, drought, erosion, and silting, thus favor- 

 ably affecting navigation, irrigation, water power, and manu- 

 facturing and domestic water supplies. 



(c) That a supply of lumber and other forest products essential 

 to meet the needs of home industry and furnish a surplus for 

 export may not fail, thus helping to create and preserve per- 

 manent and nation-wide prosperity. 



(d) That lumber and other forest products may be plentiful and 

 reasonable in price, thus helping to hold down the cost of 

 living, especially the cost of houses and fuel. 



(e) That the people living in and adjacent to forests may have 

 permanent occupation, and that wood manufacturing plants 

 may have permanent supplies of raw material ; thus increasing 

 production and consumption, creating and maintaining per- 

 manently prosperous homes and industries, and abolishing 

 the present crying evils of hobo labor in forest regions. 



(/) That we may conserve for every part of our country the 

 advantages of hunting and fishing and of recreation and 

 public health found in well-forested regions. 



5. The ownership of forest land carries with it a special 

 obligation not to injure the public. 



Timber is a long-time crop. The public interest requires the con- 

 tinuous production of forest crops. Injuries to the productive 

 power of the forest are lasting and often can not be repaired 

 for generations. The general welfare, therefore, is directly 

 cLffected by the maintenance or destruction of the productive 

 and protective power of forest land. 



The lumber business has been so conducted in the woods as to 

 inflict great and lasting injury upon the public. Except for 

 adopting, in some regions, better measures for protecting 

 uncut timberlands against fire, almost without exception the 

 lumber business has been managed wholly without regard to 

 keeping its lands productive and has thus jeopardized the 

 general prosperity. 



6. The SECURE and steady operation of the LUMBER industry 



IS OF VITAL CONCERN TO THE PUBLIC. To this end 



(a) The Government should always be fully informed on the 

 chief facts relating to the business condition of the lumber 

 industrv. 



