198 Forestry Quarterly. 



easy to see why lumbermen are coming to realize that something 

 must be done if their business is to be prolonged indefinitely. As 

 long as the prices of lumber have barely covered cost of produc- 

 tion, as has been the case with the great majority of manufac- 

 turers since 1907, no thought, whatever, can be given to forestry 

 methods. Lumbermen know that timber products are indispen- 

 sable to our civilization and that they can continue to be manu- 

 factured and consumed in the present volume but a few years at 

 best. When in the course of natural events prices of stumpage 

 have risen to the proper basis, other conditions being favorable, 

 scientific forestry will surely be adopted by lumbermen. They 

 are too intelligent business men not to undertake those methods 

 which will perpetuate their supplies of raw material and prolong 

 their business. If forestry cannot be undertaken with profitable 

 results it cannot be considered at all by private individuals, as 

 they cannot be expected to conduct a work of this kind at a loss 

 to themselves, no matter how much they may be prompted by 

 sentiment or regard for future generations. The price of lumber 

 must reach a point where it will pay to grow trees or forestry 

 cannot be thought of. The time when forestry can be seriously 

 considered as a business proposition, therefore, depends entirely 

 upon the development of economic conditions. It is to help them 

 hasten these conditions that lumbermen will appeal to the for- 

 esters. Hence, the interests of the lumbermen and the foresters 

 in working to this end are mutual. 



Aside from the present inadequate value of stumpage, the two 

 great obstacles to forestry are, as you know, fire and taxation. 

 When these problems are solved, the field for forestry will be 

 open in America. If the professional forester is looking toward 

 a vocation in economic forestry, outside of the Government ser- 

 vice, he must first address himself to the task of subduing forest 

 fires. 



A field which promises some opportunities for trained foresters 

 in the immediate future is in the service of the States. A num- 

 ber of the State Legislatures are at this time considering the 

 establishment of State forestry work which will require the ser- 

 vices of technically trained men. This work will be confined 

 very largely at first to fire prevention, particularly in the Lake 

 and far Western States. These States themselves own vast areas 

 of timber, for which improved protection from fires will be de- 



