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AMERICAN FORESTRY 



And this situation is not confined to the paper industry. 

 Those who wish to practice forestry find that the same 

 public which calls the lumberman a devastator of the 

 forest frequently forces him to cut his timber on account 

 of excessive annual taxes. 



Despite such handicaps, however, the paper industry 

 has continued to practice, as well as to preach, forestry, 

 and more and more paper companies are establishing for- 

 estry departments to maintain their supplies of raw ma- 

 terial. - 



The paper industry, merely given here as an example 

 of other American wood using industries, is on the horns 

 of a dilemma. If its timber is cut, its future existence is 

 imperiled ; if it tries to conserve its timber, the State places 

 a ruinous tax on what is not cut. 



Without relief, without raw material, America must 

 seriously consider the loss to foreign manufacturers of at 

 least a portion of an industry whose product valued at 

 over a billion dollars in 1920, gave employment to over 

 110,000 workers in more than 1,100 mills. 



WHAT TEXAS NEEDS 



'T'EXAS is striving to secure a law which provides its 

 people with forests and lumber for their future needs. 

 W. Goodrich Jones, president of the Texas Forestry As- 

 sociation, has issued an appeal to the people of the State 

 in which he says : 



"The State should compel the millmen to leave seed 

 trees, as the land will naturally reforest if fires and hogs 

 .are kept from destroying the seedling growth. This mere 

 especially in the long leaf district. Deal justly with the 

 millmen and buy their cut-over lands, at least 60 per cent 

 of which are unfit for cultivation. A law should be 

 passed allowing the State to condemn these lands at their 

 actual values. Inaugurate a great State Forest as thir- 

 teen other States have done. Follow the plan of Louisi- 

 ana with a severance or production tax on lumber. This 

 at 12J/2C per 1,000 feet will furnish the State with a suffi- 

 cient sum for a small beginning. This severance tax is in 

 reality a consumer's tax, yet the added cost, $2.50 for a 



20,000- foot bill will make the burden on the small home 

 builder negligible. This association introduced such a 

 bill in the last Legislature, and it was defeated, thanks 

 to the lumbermen. Just why the Texas lumbermen op- 

 pose this tax, which they will pay only as agents, and the 

 Louisiana lumbermen favor it, is hard to understand. 

 Probably the Texas lumbermen are opposed to a State 

 grown and owned crop, raised for the benefit of all the 

 people. The question now before the people of Texas is, 

 shall a few hundred lumbermen rule and ruin Texas? 

 Shall a small body of men block legislation, desired for 

 the benefit of 5,000,000 people?" 



What will be done is up to Governor NeflF, and the 

 State Legislature which assembles during July. The peo- 

 ple of the State are aroused, they are demanding adequate 

 forestry laws, and if the members of the Legislature 

 truly represent the people who elected them they will 

 give full consideration to the forestry bill. 



A STATE FORESTRY PROGRAM 



nPHE Oklahoma State Forestry Association has just 

 * been organized and it is interesting to note that, after 

 a study of other state associations and the work which 

 they have undertaken, Oklahoma has decided that the 

 purpose and principles of its association are to promote 

 economic forestry, farm forestry, park forestry, city for- 

 estry and tree planting in all their aspects in the State, 

 such as : 



Protection to woodlands and woodlots from fire, in- 

 sects, etc. 



Protection to shade trees along the public ways, in 

 towns and cities. 



Co-operation with lumber and woodworking industries, 

 timber and woodlot owners. 



Tree planting in western Oklahoma on farmsteads, 

 along highways, in towns and cities. 



Conservation of forests on areas not suited for agri- 

 culture and planting of trees on non-agricultural lands. 



Conservation of fish and game, song and migratory 

 birds. 



Establishing national, state, county and city forests 

 and parks. 



Conservation of our native landscape ; places and ob- 

 jects of historic interest and importance. 



Procuring a state forestry policy and the necessary 

 forestry and park legislation. 



Supporting the greater United States forest policy and 

 co-operating with the United States Forest Service. 



This is a comprehensive program and one which will 

 keep the new association busy but it can be carried on 

 successfully, and the State will benefit materially if it is. 



PENNSYLVANIA'S GOOD EXAMPLE 



'T'HE United States has been set a good example by 

 * Pennsylvania, which has recently increased the sal- 

 ary of the Commissioner of Forestry from $5,000 to 

 $8,000 a year, and that of the Deputy Commissioner from 

 $3,600 to $6,000. Such salaries naturally not only attract 

 good men to important positions, but keep them. Sala- 

 ries paid by the government to the men of the United 

 States Forest Service are, as in other government depart- 

 ments, entirely inadequate. As a result nearly one-third 



of the trained foresters in the department seek and se- 

 cure other jobs every year. Aside from the fact that the 

 salaries are not fair payment for the work is the fact that 

 the operation of the Forest Service is severely hampered 

 by the loss of men trained to do its work and by the 

 necessity of spending time to train other men, a goodly 

 proportion of whom are certain to seek other work about 

 the time they become really valuable to the Forest Service. 



