Forest Resources and the Nation's Economy 



729 



quacy. Forest values transcend the dol- 

 lar concept. How is it possible, for 

 example, to assess in dollars the essen- 

 tiality of wood in wartime, or the 

 saving of lives by reduction of peak 

 floods, or the restoration of health and 

 spirit by play and rest in the forest? 



Besides the contributions of the for- 

 est to industry, trade, agriculture, and 

 the individual that have been dis- 

 cussed, the relation of timber resources 

 to national security and income merits 

 consideration. 



As to national security, the essen- 

 tiality of wood can be judged by the 

 extent and character of its military 

 uses and its importance in recovery 

 from the effects of war. 



In 1940 and 1941, the United States 

 used about 6.5 billion feet of lumber 

 for military purposes, or the equivalent 

 of total military consumption in all 

 of the First World War. During the 

 four subsequent years (1942-45), an 

 estimated 101 billion board feet of 

 lumber was consumed for military pur- 

 poses, as follows: 49 percent for con- 

 struction ; 42 percent for boxes, crating, 

 and dunnage; and 9 percent for fab- 

 ricated products. That was 70 percent 

 of the amount of lumber consumption 

 for all purposes, or enough to build 

 more than 9.5 million average-sized 

 five-room frame houses, a number 

 equal to about one-fourth of all houses 

 existing in the United States in 1940. 



In 1942 alone, nearly 12 billion 

 board feet of lumber was used for 

 building cantonments and other mili- 

 tary structures. New factories and 

 plants, built for the manufacture of 

 implements of war, and new houses 

 for war workers called for additional 

 amounts of construction lumber. The 

 building of every Liberty ship took 

 350,000 board feet. The capture of a 

 strategic point was often accompanied 

 by heavy damage to existing facilities. 

 For example, following the capture of 

 Naples by Allied forces, 50 million feet 

 of lumber was requied to put the port 

 on a temporary operating basis. 



Huge quantities of lumber in the 

 form of boxes, crating, and dunnage 



were used in the shipment of supplies 

 and material. Each 10,000-ton cargo 

 ship took 250,000 feet to brace the 

 cargo. For every soldier sent overseas, 

 300 board feet of lumber was required 

 to box and crate his initial supplies, 

 and nearly 50 feet of lumber per 

 month was needed to maintain him. A 

 crate for an airplane took about 5,000 

 board feet. The need for lumber for 

 shipment of military goods reached a 

 peak in 1944 about 10 billion feet. 



Fabricated products required lum- 

 ber of the highest quality and most 

 exacting specifications for such items 

 as aircraft, firearms, pontons, military 

 trucks, boats and ships, tanks and vats, 

 freight cars, tool handles, and furni- 

 ture. A PT boat required 28,000 board 

 feet of lumber; each submarine chaser 

 200,000 feet for decks, bulkheads, and 

 other uses ; each escort carrier a similar 

 amount of high-grade Douglas-fir for 

 the flight deck alone. About 50 mil- 

 lion feet of high-quality wood was con- 

 sumed for Army rifle stocks in a year. 



Timber products other than lumber 

 are equally essential. During the Sec- 

 ond World War, plywood and veneer 

 were used for boat hulls, life rafts, 

 trucks, freight cars, torpedo boats, 

 landing craft, containers, and radar 

 equipment. One cord of pulpwood 

 made smokeless powder for 90,000 

 rounds of ammunition for a Garand 

 rifle, or 24 rounds for 16-inch naval 

 shells, or 1,800 containers, or 4,200 

 waterproof packages for shipping 

 blood plasma, or 1,480 paper para- 

 chutes for dropping supplies or flares, 

 or 800 wadded paper vests for high- 

 altitude flying. 



Timber is a key component in the 

 economic recovery of a nation from 

 the debilitation of war. Although tim- 

 ber-import needs of the 16 countries 

 (and western Germany) participating 

 in the European Recovery Program 

 represent only 4.4 percent (2.5 billion 

 dollars) of the total value of recom- 

 mended imports of all commodities, 

 the importance of timber to European 

 economic recovery is far greater than 

 the proportion indicates. 



