A NATIONAL LUMBEIl AND FOREST POLICY. II 



control over it, and at the same time provide for the continued pro- 

 ductiveness of the land. 



If the public had retained title to forest lands it would have been 

 able to dispose of timber as it is needed; it could have secured 

 orderly development and built up permanent enterprises, secure in 

 a perpetual supply of raw material; it would have been able readily 

 to organize protection and to secure forest replacement. The public 

 can not recover the position it surrendered, yet it may be possible to 

 bring about in a measure the objectives wo have been discussing. 



WHAT AN ADEQUATE PROGRAM SHOULD INCLUDE. 



No single measure or action will meet all features of a lumber 

 and forest problem. Each region will have a group of problems. 

 Each region will require special consideration because of the peculiar 

 local conditions. The required measures for the different regions, 

 correlated for the whole Nation, is the thing to be sought in the 

 making of a national program. I can at this juncture only indicate 

 what I believe should be the general objectives and the spirit of 

 approach, and point a way to secure some definite action. 



I am ready to advocate a policy more far-reaching in all respects 

 than has generally been offered. I would afford whatever public 

 assistance is needed to make possible the conservative handling of 

 our forests, and I would then make fire protection, conservative pro- 

 duction of lumber, and right methods of removal a matter of require- 

 ment, with such public direction and control as is necessary to realize 

 the aims desired by the public. 



Just what this action should be may vary in different regions. It 

 may be a combination of several methods of public cooperation. It 

 is possible that the principle of conservative financing with public 

 cooperation may be applicable under some conditions. I would not 

 hesitate to concur in such a principle provided it is a part of a plan 

 that includes the accomplishment of the various public objectives 

 of a broad forestry and lumber program. Circumstances will rr- 

 quire a correlation of production, with the economic needs of the 

 country as one feature of a large program that guarantees the con- 

 tinuance of the forest. It should be under a system that makes the 

 public a definite party to the undertaking and in a position to 

 safeguard by direct action the various public interests. 



Still, again, in some localities the tariff, or local taxation, may play 

 a large part in the industrial and forest situation. In such a case I 

 would meet these problems in the light of the needs of the permanent 

 industrial life of the region, not of a group of industrial interests 

 alone. 



