116 The Forest Products Laboratory 



Improved methods of turpentining de\'eloped by the Forest 

 Service resulted in increased yields and less injury to timber with net 

 savings aggregating -$4,000,000 per year. 



Tliese few examples alone show combined annual increase in 

 production and decrease in waste aggregating $30,000,000. They 

 should serve to crystallize for you tlie value and importance of indus- 

 trial research. Results, of course, cannot l)e ol)taine(l over niglit. 

 Patience is required and efforts are not always quickly crowned with 

 success — but it cannot be doubted that o\'er any reasonable period ot' 

 years, economies resulting from organized research so greatly exceed 

 the expense involved that tliere can be no question of its desirability. 



The lumber and wood-using industries represent some of the 

 greatest and most important manufacturing and industrial develop- 

 ments of the country. Of the nation's industries they rank second in 

 invested capital, first in labor employed, and second in annual value 

 of jjroducts. The Forest Pro(hicts Tia])oratory is the only institution 

 of organized research engaged upon the problems of these industries, 

 and tliose problems yet untouched and unexplored are many and of 

 far reaching importance. What, for example, of the possi])ilities 

 which may result from the deAelopment of permanently dural)le and 

 waterproof glues or adhesives and their application to the use of 

 material too small or of too poor a grade for other service — what of 

 their application to forest economics through the increased value thus 

 given to small second gro^iih material^ AVhat of the sul])hite-pulp 

 liquor problem involving the possibility of utilizing the 55 per cent 

 of the wood fed into the ])ulp digesters and now lost in the waste sul- 

 phite liquors? AVhat of the problems of packing, boxing, and crating 

 of various materials and commodities for shipment and transporta- 

 tion when conservative estimates sliow a ])ossi])le theoretical annual 

 saving to the countrv of three hundred million dollars? What of the 

 need for improvement and the method of treatment and handling of 

 piling and dock timbers in water infested with marine borers w^hich 

 destroy the piling within 18 months after placement and cause an 

 aimual replacement aggregating millions of dollars in the various 

 liarbors of the nation? What of the waning supply of hardwoods and 

 the need for authentic knowledge of the properties of South American 

 and other foreign woods as compared to those of our own country for 

 which thev mav idtimatelv be needed as substitutes? 



