152 The Forest Products Laboratory 



Some rej^lied that this should be a government matter and the 

 government should provide funds, etc., not seeming to realize that 

 funds were not then available and that the loss to every manufacturer 

 due to a delay of six or eight months in the solution of such a problem 

 meant many times the amount they were asked to contribute. 



If the Forest Products Laboratory- is to be of the greatest possible 

 assistance to the pulp and paper industry closer cooperation must 

 exist with the mills, for the final test of any laboratory trial must take 

 place in the mill. Too often information vital to the successful prose- 

 cution of a problem is withheld or full and hearty cooperation is lack- 

 ing. If the mills refuse to give the laboratory their full confidence 

 and at the same time maintain a critical and unsympathetic attitude 

 but little real progress can be made on those problems in which the 

 industry is vitally interested. 



If, however, they look upon the laboratory as a part of their own 

 organization and treat it as such, correcting its mistakes and commend- 

 ing its successes, the greater portion of any research problem is already 

 solved. 



For an organization of this character to be so seriously hampered, 

 both as to equipment and personnel, is fatal to a rapid solution of the 

 many problems with which it is confronted, and it is, of course, im- 

 possible to carry on intensive studies of the many pressing questions. 

 Should a mill organization desire work done, the results of which would 

 be of benefit to the whole industry, a cooperative arrangement can be 

 made similar to the ones now in force with respect to pulp wood and 

 wood pulp decay and pulp wood measurement. Or one or more men, 

 financed by the mills, could be detailed at tlie laboratory for an in- 

 tensive study of some problem under the direction of the laboratory 

 organization. Either of these suggestions is in accordance with the 

 laboratory policy of furthering the advance of exact knowledge of the 

 industry with which they are so closely connected, and their adoption 

 by any organization is most heartily welcomed. 



In summing up the problems of the pulp and paper industry, 

 perhaps the one which is as important as any is in seeing that ample 

 appropriation is made for the continuance of this work, so that with the 

 necessary funds, the personnel of this laboratory may be built up to 

 a point where we may rest assured that the problems confronting us 

 may be solved. The personnel is the foundation, and the whole thing 



