562 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



ENVIOUS OF PENNSYLVANIA 



'T'HE need for senators and congressmen with a proper 

 ' appreciation of the forestry requirements of their state 

 is aptly illustrated in a forceful editorial in the Chicago 

 Tribune, which says: "American Forestry, the maga- 

 zine of the American Forestry Association, prints a map 

 in the July number showing an area of 1,000,000 acres, 

 covering more than half of four counties of northeastern 

 Pennsylvania, which is to be purchased by the govern- 

 ment to protect the head waters of the Allegheny River 

 and to develop a renewal forest. Is it any wonder that 

 United States senators and representatives from Penn- 

 sylvania are returned to Congress by their constituencies 

 term after term? They get practical results for their 

 districts and their state. They are less concerned with 

 panaceas or patent nostrums for the correction of national 

 or international ills than with doing something which will 

 improve the welfare of their constituents and provide for 

 the future of their state. Reforestation is a commendable 

 enterprise. It not only conserves the water supply of a 

 large section of Pennsylvania, but promises to provide 



much needed lumber at reasonable prices in the future. 

 Pennsylvania makes it a practical reality through federal 

 aid. The interest of its congressmen in the patent nos- 

 trums of legislation is merely in their value for trading 

 purposes. What wise man would not trade a vote for the 

 Norris bill for one favoring purchase of 1,000,000 acres 

 of land for reforestation in his home district? Why can- 

 not the agrarian bloc in Congress do as much for the 

 Middle West? Wisconsin has large tracts of land in cry- 

 ing need of similar reforestation, and worthless for any 

 other purpose. Illinois and the entire Mississippi Valley 

 is in need of improved waterways. At least sixteen states 

 of the Middle West are asking for congressional approval 

 of the St. Lawrence seaway. Many states and thousands 

 of manufacturers want the elimination of the "Pittsburgh 

 plus" system for fixing prices on steel products. There 

 is plenty of practical work for the agrarians in Congress. 

 If the Pennsylvanians can get practical results in Con- 

 gress why cannot the Middle Westerners?" 



THE SAD STATE 



TT3W Michigan neglects its forest land, how it allows 

 '--'- forest fires to annually add to the destruction already 

 caused by reckless lumbering, and how it might regain 

 some of its lost forest wealth is the subject of a forceful 

 interview with James Oliver Curwood, nationally known 

 as a writer of wild life in the woods. 



That Mr. Curwood is indignant when he views the 

 condition of his own state is natural. There is plenty of 

 cause for indignation, and he voices it by saying: 



"I have seen scores of forest fires in northern Michi- 

 gan in the last three weeks and hundreds of thousands 

 of acres burned simply through the lack of proper pre- 

 ventative measures instituted by the state. With proper 

 fire protection service, it would not be difficult to eliminate 

 at least 75 per cent of the burned area we have in Michi- 

 gan each year. 



"In many eastern states, it creates a sensation when a 

 single township burns over. Michigan is at present the 

 worst burned state in the country and this in face of the 

 fact that Michigan is absolutely the best equipped state, 

 naturally, for the propagation of forest and wild life. 



"Here we have vast areas of ideal pine land that could 

 be replanted. Instead of replanting, we allow thousands 

 of acres of young trees to burn each year and never 

 make an effort to replant them. 



OF MICHIGAN 



"Michigan could be one of the greatest pulpwood states 

 in the Union and at a time when paper is almost inval- 

 uable it would seem that those directing the state's gov- 

 ernmental affairs would realize this. 



"I believe that I am stating a very fair estimate when 

 I say that the people of Michigan are losing $50,000,000 

 a year because of the lack of conservation and propaga- 

 tion, which has been so utterly forgotten by those polit- 

 ical helmsmen of the state's affairs. 



"There should be organized in Michigan a forest pro- 

 tection system so complete that within a very few years 

 this state would again be the leading lumber and pulp 

 wood state of the Union. 



"Not only should forest fires be eliminated, but we 

 should have great state nurseries from which we could 

 plant hundreds of thousands of young forest trees each 

 year. The men who would protect our forests from fire 

 could also be our planters of trees. An expenditure of 

 $1,500,000 a year would repay the state and its people 

 fifty fold in dollars alone." 



Mr. Curwood has the right idea of what should be 

 clone. Now, as one of the leading citizens of Michigan 

 and a man of action, let him write and write and write 

 until he has the people of the state aroused as he is 

 aroused. Then Michigan will have forests again. 



GEORGIA 



/^ EORGIA has at last awakened. The state legislature 

 ^-^ has passed a forestry bill by an almost unanimous 

 vote. The bill provides for the creation of a state board 

 of forestry to consist of the Governor, the Secretary of 

 State and three citizens to be named by the Governor. 

 The progress of forestry in the state largely depends 

 upon the powers of this board and the appropriation 

 given it for its work. It is to be hoped that the board 



AWAKENS 



will be non-political. That is up to the Governor. Ex- 

 perience in other states has shown that non-political 

 boards usually are able to do much more for forestry 

 than those which consider politics first and forestry sec- 

 ond. Let us hope that the Governor will consider forestry 

 much more important than politics. He has a great op- 

 portunity to do a great work for his state. 



