NOTES AND COMMENTS 1061 



feet board measure must be cut. Thus an enormous expansion of the 

 industry is required in the face of labor shortage and other difficulties. 

 This expansion might be accomplished if the spruce occurred in vast 

 stands adjacent to present logging operations, as do other species of the 

 Pacific coast. But spruce is found for the most part only scattered 

 through stands of other species or in very limited pure stands. It has 

 therefore been taken out as logging of all species progressed. 



The sawmill capacity is undoubtedly ample, but to increase the pro- 

 duction means an enormous expansion of logging railroads in advance 

 of taking out species associated with spruce. Private industry is prob- 

 ably unable to finance this quickly enough. Furthermore, the recent 

 strike, which the lumbermen claim to have won, is being followed by 

 an aftermath of sabotage and general hampering of operations far 

 more expensive to the industry than a grant of the eight-hour day. 

 Since private industry admittedly cannot handle the situation, necessary 

 steps are already under way to form a military organization to do the 

 work. This is to be under the direction of the Signal Corps. The re- 

 sults obtained will be watched with interest, since success is absolutely 

 essential. 



The second phase of this subject concerns itself with the future sup- 

 ply of spruce. According to official estimates summarized in the West 

 Coast Lumberman of January 15, 1916, there is about 25,000,000 feet 

 of standing spruce about equally divided between Oregon and Wash- 

 ington. As this is widely scattered in its distribution, it seems obvious 

 that the Federal Government should take over the best stands and con- 

 serve them for this purpose so long as no equally good substitute for 

 spruce can be found. Failure to do this will lead to the gradual fritter- 

 ing away of this timber on non-essential uses, such as box boards (much 

 clear timber in the past has been used for this purpose) and other uses 

 where efficient substitutes can be found. The time to take over this 

 timber is now, while the need is glaringly before the public. 



Forest Supervisors and Technical Training in Forestry 



It was a good piece of work for the Yale Forest School News to 

 secure from some eight or ten forest supervisors and print in full their 

 views as to the value for their work of the technical education they had 

 received at their forest school. To ask the question seems to imply the 

 possibility of a negative reply. But we are glad to note that only one 

 of the correspondents goes so far as to say that he fails "to see that 

 today there is any direct advantage to a forest supervisor in having had 



