AN ANSWER TO DR. COMPTON'S FOURTEEN POINTS 



In a recent issue of the American Lumberman and later in Ameri- 

 can Forestry, Dr. Wilson Compton, Secretary-Manager of the Na- 

 tional Lumber Manufacturers' Association, attempts as a laivyer, 

 economist, and plain citizen, to justify the opposition of the lumber 

 industry to the growing popular sentiment in favor of preventing 

 devastation of privately owned timberlands. Emulating an illustrious 

 leader, Dr. Compton expands his arguments to fourteen basic prin- 

 ciples. As a lawyer who must present a brief for his client, the Lum- 

 ber Manufacturers' Association, he is entitled to a hearing. We 

 doubt, however, whatever lawyers may think, whether economists and 

 plain citizens would recognize in him their spokesman. 



As an economist, he belongs to the almost obsolete school which 

 places "the self-interest of individuals" above human progress. As 

 a plain citizen, he is too manifestly on the side of a few individual 

 timberland owners and against the interests of the great mass of the 

 people. As an economist he should deal with facts and not with 

 hypothetical cases. He sets up a straw man which he presents as 

 the sentiment of the forestry profession, and then proceeds to de- 

 molish it. These views which he attacks and which he imputes to 

 a majority of foresters are based upon "personal conversation and 

 correspondence," and not upon published material by foresters both 

 within and outside of the Government service. Taken by themselves, 

 his "principles" are so general that few will controvert them. It 

 is their interpretation and application to actual conditions that reveal 

 , his true viewpoint and purpose. We personally feel that he does more 

 harm than good to the lumber industry, by placing it in an uncom- 

 promising attitude toward a popular movement which can no longer 

 be delayed by legalistic arguments or by economic casuistry. 



After our experience in the war, after recent enactments such as 

 the prohibition amendment, narcotic drugs act, the abolition of manu- 

 facture of sulphur matches, laws intended to curb the social evil, all 

 of which "discourage enterprise and seriously impair the efficiency 

 of the particular industries thus singled out," Dr. Compton is not 

 reckoning with the times when he demands "hands off the lumber 

 industry!" and insists upon self-interest as the controlling factor in 



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