1366 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



the metal in 1928. Today, through continued intensive research, the 

 cost has been further reduced and the quality and strength have been 

 improved to such an extent that aluminum and its alloys are already 

 competing with steel in important structural uses, while wider 

 markets are being opened up in paints, coatings, welding, sheet uses, 

 and machinery. 



Research in glass composition and manufacture has brought about 

 three revolutionary developments in the last 20 years the pro- 

 duction of Pyrex glass, improved optical glass, and shatter-proof 

 glass all to the great advantage of American industry. The present 

 rayon industry, with production values at $150,000,000 in 1929, is a 

 direct outgrowth of research carried out with the purpose of duplicat- 

 ing the product of the silkworm. The development of cellulose 

 lacquers has opened up an entirely new chapter in automobile and 

 furniture finishes. To cellophane, another new research product in 

 the cellulose group, has been awarded the credit for a considerable 

 share of the financial success of one large corporation during the 

 depression. Research in the preservation and refrigeration of foods 

 has practically "reversed the seasons" and has been the foundation 

 of enormous industrial developments of late years. Long and 

 patient research in the fixation of nitrogen has at last made it possible 

 to extract from the air the most essential fertilizing element for our 

 soils. 



Over against the large body of American industries that have 

 enjoyed significant progress and profit through research, the majority 

 of wood industries seem to occupy a place apart. Scientific standards 

 have rarely been the controlling factor in logging, for instance, or in the 

 production and use of lumber. The use of wood is guided less by 

 modern technology and more by traditional business practice and 

 artisans' rules. It is a fair assumption that, in the strenuous com- 

 petition of industries for present-day markets, neglect of funda- 

 mental and applied research on a given material will impose a severe 

 handicap on its use. Only in certain fields of chemical utilization 

 such as pulp and paper, rayon, and plywood has wood maintained 

 or improved its position as a basic material, and it is in these par- 

 ticular fields that research has been most actively supported and 

 applied. 



Along with the development of scientific and technological re- 

 search, there must be increasing attention to all of the economic factors 

 involved. Without such information, authentic in source and com- 

 prehensive in scope, neither the selection of specific research projects 

 nor the effective application of the results can be guided most soundly. 

 As an example, in the field of pulp and paper research the proper 

 choice of species for first study and the adoption by industry of the 

 results, if successful, both depend on knowledge of the cost and future 

 supply of these and competitive species, as well as knowledge of pro- 

 duction costs, transportation costs, and their relation to and effects 

 upon competing production. Problems of this nature are so im- 

 portant and complex that they must be recognized and adequate 

 research organized for their solution. To be most effective, such 

 research should be closely coordinated with the scientific and tech- 

 nological phases of the work. 



