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AMERICAN FORESTRY 



f/r/ 



VOL. 27 



JULY, 1921 



EDITORIAL 



NO. 331 



BUSINESS INVESTIGATES FORESTRY 



/^NE of the most distinctive steps in the forward ad- 

 ^-^ vance of forestry in this country is the decision of 

 the Chamber of Commerce of the United States, composed 

 of the best and clearest thinking element of American 

 business, to thoroughly investigate the question of a Na- 

 tional Forest policy through the medium of a special com- 

 mittee appointed and delegated for this purpose. 



This movement was initiated on January 25 last by the 

 Board of Directors of the United States Chamber of 

 Commerce, which voted to name a committee of wide rep- 

 resentation, composed not only of men of attainment in 

 fields closely associated with forestry, but business men 

 and others prominent in varied walks of life. 



This committee, before it makes its repwrt, will have 

 investigated the forestry situation at first hand by holding 

 conferences in New York and Chicago, and by a close- 

 hand survey of the forest regions, particularly on the 

 West Coast. 



The desire of the Chamber of Commerce is to have an 

 absolutely impartial committee carefully investigate the 

 forestry problems of this country, and after studying the 

 situation from every angle decide whether and in what 

 form a referendum shall be submitted to the Board of 

 Directors. If a referendum is approved by the Board it 

 will be submitted to about 2,000 member organizations 

 for discussion and ballot. 



The American Forestry Association has been honored 

 by having two members of its Board of Directors selected 

 to serve on this committee, and it awaits with great in- 

 terest the result of the Committee's investigation and the 

 decision both by the Board of Directors and the member 

 organizations. 



This is the first time American business, which par- 

 ticipated so effectively and widely in the successful con- 

 summation of the Great War, has interested itself in 

 forestry as one of the great problems of national welfare 

 and economy. 



PRIVATE FORESTRY AND TAXES 



ONE of the industries of the United States dependent 

 upon the forest is the manufacture of paper. 



Although the paper industry of the country, whose 

 product last year was valued at over the billion dollar 

 mark, uses less than four per cent of the wood cut of the 

 nation, its continued existence is absolutely dependent 

 upon the maintenance of its supply of raw material. 



It is for this reason that one of the most valiant advo- 

 cates of the Snell-McCormick forestry measures is the 

 American Paper and Pulp Association. 



The importance of the forest problem to the printing, 

 paper and allied industries is not appreciated by those 

 who use the product of the forest in this form. The New 

 York State supply of pulpwood timber, for instance, 

 would not last the mills in that State five years, were they 

 to be deprived of the supply which they receive from 

 across the international boundary. 



In the West are vast supplies of pulpwood timber, but 

 the long rail haul makes them almost prohibitive to the 

 paper mills of the eastern portion of the country. The 

 development of paper mills in the Far West is a big future 

 possibility; but even then the rail haul to eastern con- 

 sumers would be so expensive that the competition of Eu- 



ropean paper, made under conditions of cheap labor, sub- 

 sidized industry, and for the present at least of impaired 

 European currency, would become a serious problem for 

 the industry. 



It is absolutely imperative, therefore, that the waste 

 lands of the east should begin, and begin now, to produce 

 forests for future use. If the United States paper mills 

 are to exist, therefore, in independence of foreign raw 

 materials, the utilization of forest areas to produce the 

 needed raw material is a paramount necessity. 



And yet, only a few months ago, a prominent paper 

 manufacturer, a believer in forestry, with a firm intention 

 of using a big tract of forest land under the most ap- 

 proved forest regulations, found that the taxation laws 

 alone of his State would force him to abandon this plan of 

 keeping his lahd productive with forest crops. He found 

 that the laws of his State imposed on such timberland a 

 tax equivalent to taxing a crop of grain twice a week 

 during the growing season. His hope of maintaining his 

 forest land in forest growth by cutting only the mature 

 timber was almost shattered. Had he been a man of or- 

 dinary persistence only, he would have abandoned hope 

 entirely and proceeded to slash oflf every tree on his land, 

 in order to avoid paying ruinous taxes. 



