10 PRACTICAL FORESTRY IN 



-OUR INTEREST AS CONSUMERS 



Every person who uses wood,, Avhether to build, fence, burn, 

 box his goods, or timber his mine, is directly interested in a 

 cheap' and plentiful supply of timber. Every acre burned, 

 every cut-over acre lying idle, raises the price for him with- 

 out furnishing any revenue with which to help pay it. Every 

 acre saved from fire, every acre of young growth, lowers it for 

 him and puts money in circulation besides. 



Similarly, the cost to the consumer of most articles of every 

 day necessity is directly affected by the connection of forest 

 material with their production. Wood and water are almost 

 as essential to mining as ore, hence influence the price, of 

 metals. In the form of fuel, buildings, or boxes, if not as an 

 actual constituent of the product itself, wood supply bears a 

 like relation to almost every industry. 



Every reduction of the lumber traffic which helps support 

 our railroads, or of their supply of poles, ties and car ma- 

 terial, tends to raise the cost of our groceries and other rail- 

 transported commodities. 



SCHOOL LANDS 



Most of our western states have immense areas of forested 

 grant lands, the sale of timber from which supports the pub- 

 lic schools and other state institutions. Destruction of this 

 asset is a direct blow to these institutions which can be only 

 partially met by increased taxation. 



THE FARMER HAS THE MOST AT STAKE 



In the case of western agriculture, the relation to the forest 

 is fundamental and inseparable 1 . Enough has been said to 

 show that because of its importance as a sustaining industry 

 lumber manufacture is a prodigious factor in creating a mar- 

 ket for farm products, also that the cost of all articles used 

 by the farmer is cheapened by forest preservation. But lack 



