52 



I have shown you these illustrations of the activities of the lumber 

 trade to impress you with the fact that forests grow to be used, trees must 

 be cut to supply our needs of wood materials, wood-choppers and lumber- 

 men must be active; only one other activity is to be added to theirs; that 

 of the forester, modifying their manner of cutting and of using the forest. 

 Both forester and lumberman are in the business of providing our require- 

 ments for wood materials, both are concerned in the utilization of the for- 

 est, both are harvesters, but while every forester must be a logger, the log- 

 ger does not proceed in the same manner as the forester. 



The difference between the logger and the forester is that the former 

 is a harvester of nature s crop, an exploiter of the natural resource, cash- 

 ing the accumulated wood capital, a mere converter into useful shape of a 

 crop to the production of which he has contributed nothing and to the re- 

 production of which he does not give any thought, while the forester is a 

 producer of wood crops, just as the farmer is the producer of food crops ; 

 when he harvests the naturally grown wood crop it is with the view of re- 

 producing again and again systematically another crop from the same 

 ground. The main difference, then, between forester and lumberman is 

 their attitude towards the future. 



The lumberman treats the forest much like a mine from which he re- 

 moves the pay-ore, leaving the less valuable rest to its fate and nature's 

 care. To him the forest is not an investment but a speculation from which 

 he tries to withdraw as soon as possible both capital and profit. Hence, all 

 his appliances, his camps and shanties are only temporary structures which 

 he allows to collapse or which he removes when he has cut out what will 

 pay him at present to take. 



His roads, if he makes any, intended only for temporary use, namely, 

 until the present harvest is secured, are made as cheaply as possible. In 

 many parts they are passable only in winter time, when snow has covered 

 the uneven ground and by means of water sprinklers an ice road can be 

 secured. 



Even the railroads, the modern means of conveying the harvest to 

 main lines and to mills, are only roughly built, for they are in a few years 

 to be abandoned or shifted, unless their location is such as to warrant their 

 change into regular carriers. 



The harvest is made without regard to the fate of the young growth 

 present or any possible aftergrowth, the interest of the logger being only in 

 the present. There is often little care and thought given to a thorough 

 utilization of even the valuable parts, but certainly whatever is not saleable 

 at present, is neglected, despised, destroyed. We do not say ruthlessly, or 

 recklessly, which implies absence of all reasonable consideration, for the 

 logger reckons and he has ruth or regret he reckons, however, only from 

 one point of view, namely, that of present profits, and he regrets merely 

 that there is not more profit to be had from the part destroyed. Whatever 



