'ihese two ideas suggested the first conservation meeting, the 

 Conference of Governors at the White House, five years ago. 

 Now facing the greatest contest this movement has known 

 the fight to save our forests and our water powers to the 

 people the Congress comes back to the seat of the nation's 

 government to hold its meeting this year. 



"The Congress is to be devoted largely to forest conser- 

 vation, because of the national importance of the subject in 

 its many phases. Public interest is involved, because upon 

 the proper solution of the various problems depends the cost 

 of the wood without which our civilization would decline; 

 the perpetuation of the timber supply; the development of 

 hydro-electric power; the utilization of non-agricultural lands; 

 the availability of water for irrigation; the preservation of 

 forest areas for health and recreation, and many other de- 

 velopments essential alike to every citizen from the lumber- 

 man to the man who owns neither a tree nor a foot of land. 



"Here are some of the reasons why the Congress puts for- 

 estry foremost at this year's meeting: 



Forest fires continue to destroy lives by hundreds and 

 tangible assets averaging upwards of fifty million dollars 

 annually, and do incalculable damage to soil, water, and 

 young growth. 



Forest insects destroy enough timber every year to finance 

 the construction program of the navy. 



Floods follow forest denudation, and the disasters of this 

 year can be traced in part, at least, to non-forested water- 

 sheds. 



We are using three times as much timber as grows each 

 year, and worst of all are utilizing only forty to seventy per 

 cent of each tree cut down; while the fire destroys the equiv- 

 alent of each year's new growth. 



The tax laws in most states do not recognize forests as a 

 crop to be perpetuated, but act to destroy the timber re- 

 sources for the enrichment of the present to the poverty of 

 the future. 



The preservation treatment of timber is a potent factor in 

 conservation, since it reduces the consumption and makes 

 inferior species available. At present about 20 per cent of 



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