rates, of from $16.00 to $20.00 per thousand feet, unless some practical plan 

 of reforestation is speedily adopted. In some sections of the south, pine 

 has grown up since the Civil War and is now being cut and marketed 

 in the form of small dimension and common boards and when put to uses 

 for which it is suitable is practically as good as virgin timber. 



This fact merely indicates the possibility of growing timber in a com- 

 mercial way in certain localities. I am not prepared to discuss policies 

 or plans of reforestation, as I possess no technical knowledge on the subject, 

 but from the standpoint of a retailer, knowing the far-reaching effect upon 

 prices when almost the entire supply of timber is confined to one section of 

 the country and the consequent decline in the use of lumber as a structural 

 material, I feel that I may safely represent the retailers of Indiana as 

 favoring national and state legislation that would have for its purpose 

 the reforesting of a vast acreage of land that is not suitable for highly 

 developed agriculture, but is adapted to the successful growing of trees. 

 Given proper tax exemption, timber landowners could be encouraged to 

 reforest the land from which the trees have been cut. Waste in logging 

 operations should be avoided so far as possible, but perhaps the only prac- 

 tical solution of this is for a market to be created for that which is now 

 not worth bringing into the mill and manufacturing. 



This is a feature of conservation that is largely up to the retailer. In 

 the past it has been the practice of the public to demand certain standard 

 lengths of lumber, regardless, in many cases, of the purpose for which it 

 was intended. 



If, for instance, four-foot lengths were needed, the order almost invar- 

 iably would be for twelve or sixteen-foot lengths. Until recent scarcity of 

 stock at the mills, resulting from war conditions, short lengths were not 

 easily marketable at prices that would make it profitable for the mill to 

 utilize the full cut of the log, and waste resulted. 



That there is a use for lumber two feet and longer is obvious to anyone 

 who has given careful thought to the uses to which it is or may be put, 

 and with the proper effort on the part of the dealer, the user can be induced 

 to buy eight two-foot pieces instead of one sixteen, if the former is the 

 length needed. 



In other words, if the retailer of lumber is to best serve the public, 

 he must seek to bring his merchandising methods to the highest point of 

 efficiency. His place of business must take on more the aspect of a lumber 

 store, rather than merely a yard, which is conceived by the public to be 

 a piece of ground covered by a miscellaneous lot of more or less orderly 

 piles of lumber, to be first sent to a mill to be worked or put in shape by a 

 skilled carpenter before it is ready for use. This is true of a considerable 

 part of the lumber that goes into general construction, but there is a 

 demand for small ready-to-use pieces, the supply of which, to the public, 

 would result in a closer utilization of the tree in the woods and at the mill. 



The retail lumber associations have done a great deal to bring about 

 better methods in the distribution of lumber. The programs have been 

 almost entirely given over to the discussion of economies, efficiency of ser- 

 vice and better accounting. The problems of conservation and reforestation 

 are now recognized as vital to the industry and from now on will receive 

 the most careful thought and the heartiest support of the membership. 



