1392 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



has already reached millions of acres in State forests and other hold- 

 ings. In addition, practically every State has its local forest produc- 

 tion and marketing problems which it cannot expect the Federal 

 Government or any other agency to solve except in small part. These 

 include the local problems of unorganized small producers and owners 

 unable to support research except through their contributions to the 

 public taxes. The reasons for a substantial contribution by the States 

 are much the same as in agriculture, and in fact the management and 

 profitable conversion of the farm woodlot is in one sense a promising 

 but largely undeveloped form of diversified farming. 



State universities and State agricultural colleges, even though they 

 contain no forest schools, can and should be engaged in one or more 

 phases of forest products research in their engineering, biological, 

 and chemical laboratories. What most if not all the forest schools in 

 such institutions need is larger faculties, from the standpoint of 

 investigative work alone. It would be an excellent thing if all^such 

 forest schools could have at least one man with full time or practically 

 full time and suitable equipment available for products research. 



The Federal Government already makes a relatively large contribu- 

 tion to forest products research, and a question may justly be raised 

 concerning the obligations of the Federal Government which would 

 justify any large increases. 



Many phases and characteristics of the forest utilization problem 

 of the United States are interstate or national. Everyone uses wood 

 directly or indirestly, regardless of the accident of residence. Many 

 phases of better utilization and waste prevention are national prob- 

 lems along with timber growing. The multitude of small manufac- 

 turers and small users, including farmers, involve exactly the same 

 considerations as in agriculture from the research standpoint. The 

 national distribution of our pulp and paper manufacture, which 

 would relieve over-centralization in one or two regions, is merely 

 one of a large number of problems which are national or regional, or 

 both. On a realistic analysis, the continued and increased partici- 

 pation of the Federal Government must be taken for granted in any 

 far-reaching program of research aimed at stabilizing and expanding 

 wood consumption in the United States. Government pioneering 

 and success in forest products research, particularly by the Forest 

 Service, stands as an accomplished fact. 



The opportunities and needs of endowed universities with respect 

 to forest products investigations are similar to those of State uni- 

 versities or agricultural colleges. Larger faculties and equipment are 

 needed, partly for more effective instruction but chiefly to permit 

 more research. In the various departments of endowed universities 

 with forest schools, and likewise in universities which do not contain 

 forest schools, there is still a very large opportunity for faculty or 

 graduate-student or fellowship research on a wide range of forest 

 problems. If such institutions will encourage research in forest 

 products they can in the aggregate contribute materially to our 

 progress in forestry. 



Several research institutions, such as the Mellon Institute and the 

 Institute of Paper Chemistry, already include in their investigative 

 field one or more phases of the forestry problem. The field covered 

 by such institutions should be broadened and the number should be 

 increased. They can be assured that almost anything in forest 



