10 A NATIONAL LUMBER AND FOREST POLICY. 



In short, the proposal does not reach the real source of the diffi- 

 culty and would not be of permanent benefit to the industry, aside 

 from its failure to safeguard various general public interests. 



A second suggestion that has been made is that the public coop- 

 erate in the conservative financing of timber holdings through long- 

 term loans at low rates of interest. Some have suggested a system 

 of forest loans backed by the public credit, similar to the loans made 

 to farmers under the farm loan act. The theory is that the financial 

 strengthening of the stumpage holdings would act automatically to 

 cause curtailment when the market is overloaded and prices are likely 

 to fall. This proposal points directly to the greatest weakness of the 

 industrial situation, but, like the previous plan it is a halfway meas- 

 ure. It does not make any provision for the permanence of the 

 forest. 



Still, again, tax reform has been urged for a decade or more. On 

 the ground that the present system tends to force premature cutting, 

 it is proposed that there should be an annual land tax and a tax on the 

 product when it is cut. The present tax system without question op- 

 erates to discourage the holding of land for growing timber. But 

 there are other forces much stronger that are causing premature cut- 

 ting and that are preventing the owners from caring for the cut-over 

 lands. Taken alone tax reforms will not achieve either result. 



I can further illustrate the failure of halfway measures by refer- 

 ence to various proposals which have also been made regarding the 

 protection and reproduction of the forest. Most of these concern fire 

 protection, and largely leave out of account the question of forest 

 replacement. Specific proposals, however, have been made to place 

 legal restrictions on methods of operation in the woods. In a num- 

 ber of States such proposals have been widely discussed, bills have 

 been offered in the legislatures, and there is behind them a very con- 

 siderable body of public sentiment. 



These have made little headway, because for the most part they 

 have not provided for meeting certain economic difficulties. Here 

 again the industrial problems must be considered along with the 

 proposals to secure forest renewal and growth. 



In approaching the question of a national lumber and forest pro- 

 gram, involving perhaps some radical departures from the present 

 principles of relations between the public and industry, we shall find, 

 I believe, that the most important and fundamental questions relate 

 to the speculative character of forest ownership. Such ownership 

 means cutting as fast as possible and without reference to how the 

 land is left after lumbering. What is needed is some strengthening 

 influence that would make possible the husbanding of the resource 

 and its conservative use, as the public would use it if it had retained 



