From Address of Governor Wm. C. Sproul 

 Outlining Administration Forest Policy 



"One other great branch of Pennsylvania produc- 

 tion has been not only neglected but virtually de- 

 stroyed. Time was when Pennsylvania was the first 

 lumber-producing state in the Union. Today she has 

 fallen back so that half of the states have passed her. 

 If we compare what we need and what we consume 

 in lumber with what our forests actually grow, we 

 must recognize the unhappy truth that Pennsylvania 

 is a deforested state. That we have allowed her to 

 become so is one of the greatest blots upon our in- 

 dustrial sagacity and our .statesmanship. 



"Because Pennsylvania is deforested our people 

 are daily paying increasing prices, not only for all 

 the products of the forest but for all products of 

 every kind, for there are few articles of human ne- 

 cessity, use, or enjoyment that can be produced, 

 transported, or delivered without the forest. We are 

 beginning to realize what will happen when the ac- 

 tual famine in lumber and forest products arrives, 

 the foretaste of which is already upon us. Ten years 

 ago Pennsylvania was producing as much timber and 

 lumber products as she consumed. Twenty years 

 ago we were a lumber exporting state. Today we are 

 importing three times as much in forest products 

 as is being cut from our depleted store, and almost 

 ten times as much as our forests are growing. 



"Out of 13,000,000 acres of forest land in Pennsyl- 

 vania there are 6,000,000 acres that are fit for noth- 

 ing except to grow trees. Of this 6,000,000 acres, good 



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