JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



Vol. XVIII MAY, 1920 No. 5 



The Society is not responsible, as a body, for the facts and opinions advanced 

 in the papers published by it. 



WHERE WE STAND 



By GiFFORD PiNCHOT 



It is no easy matter to agree upon a national forest policy. The 

 problem is so large, complicated, and far-reaching as to justify honest 

 differences of opinion upon the subject, especially in relation to details 

 of method. The time allowed the Society for discussion and decision 

 has been all too brief, although the arguments advanced have served 

 to bring the basic factors of the situation vividly into view. Foresters 

 have become intensely interested in the problem, and that fact alone 

 has made the game worth the candle. 



The agitation of the past six months has brought to light several 

 things of striking interest : 



1. There has been no serious attempt whatsoever to controvert the 

 facts of the forest situation as stated by the Committee for the Appli- 

 cation of Forestry, facts based upon statistics furnished by the Forest 

 Service. Foresters, lumbermen, and the public have tacitly admitted 

 that the forest conditions of the country have been correctly described 

 and analyzed. 



Doctor Compton, to be sure, showed an inclination to differ with 

 foresters as to the meaning of the forest situation in his original article 

 on the fourteen points ; but his paper in the March number of the 

 Journal of Forestry is (thanks to Mr. X) a fairly successful effort 

 to crawl from under. 



As a matter of passing interest, Mr. Dunham's report on the yellow 

 pine situation in the South (a report undertaken for the lumber indus- 

 try) verifies closely the figures of the Bureau of Corporations and 

 bears out the statements of the Forest Service and the Committee to 

 the effect that the bulk of the original stands of yellow pine will be 

 gone within from ten to fifteen years. 



