682 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



tirely in the hands of the lumbermen. People at large 

 and the private owners of timberland must sit on the 

 game and help the States and National government carry 

 the burden. 



There are a number of essential things to be done if 

 this country is ever to have a standard policy of timber 

 production. First, we should have a complete survey 

 of our timber resources a stock taking, if you please 

 so as to find out our forest assets and determine what 

 land should be permanently retained for timber produc- 

 tion. Second, the Government, States, and pwnvate 

 owners, working in cooperation, must establish standard 

 systems of fire protection and reforestation, since largely 

 on these two prime factors will rest the success of the 

 whole movement. Third, the States, with the aid of the 

 Federal Government, must work out a more equitable 



have not yet learned the solution. The fact that forests 

 enter into the daily cost of living, and are part and parcel 

 of the industrial prosperity of the nation, has never oc- 

 curred to them. How to carry the message of forestry 

 in an impressive way to such people is one of the big 

 problems of the day. 



New Jersey made a start along these lines not long 

 ago by providing for the compulsory teaching of fire pre- 

 vention in its public schools, so that every child, at least, 

 will know something of the danger from fire and the 

 care necessary in its use. Other States have been work- 

 ing along similar lines, and this year compulsory fire 

 teaching laws were passed by California, West Virginia, 

 and Rhode Island. The New York legislature also passed 

 a similar bill, only to have it vetoed by the Governor. 

 The outlook in many of the other States is not very prom- 



(G>ttrte8y U. S. Air Service) 



THE EYES OF THE FOREST 



The airplane fire patrol in action. This is the third year of cooperation between the Air Service of the U. S. Army and the 

 Forest Service and while aerial patrol does not solve the fire detection problem, it is a powerful help and its eflfectiveness in 

 this respect will be increased through the improvement of radio and ground line communication. 



system of forest land taxation than is now in effect. 

 Fourth, the existing National Forests should be ex- 

 tended through purchase, land exchange, or Presidential 

 proclamation to include large timbered areas now out- 

 side their boundaries. Fifth, the States must pass for- 

 estry laws to provide for carrying out their part of the 

 whole economic plan. Sixth, all agencies must lend their 

 best efforts toward public instruction in the forestry 

 problems confronting the nation. 



Education in forestry is one of the crying needs at the 

 present time. Millions of our people know nothing of 

 the timber resources of the country, other than that there 

 is a lumber yard around the corner, and care less. The 

 high price and scarcity of building material, newsprint, 

 etc., is a mystery to them a new problem of which they 



ising, but when the public becomes sufficiently aroused to 

 demand such legislation, it will get it. 



This year the proclamation of Forest Protection Week 

 by President Harding, did much to awaken public in- 

 terest. In 19 States, local proclamations were issued by 

 the Governors in response to the President's appeal. A 

 large amount of space was given the subject of forestry 

 by the daily press, and in many cities and towns the week 

 was observed with appropriate ceremonies. But, by and 

 large, it was only a drop in the bucket something to be 

 thought of for a short time and then forgotten. This is 

 not as it should be. Forest protection should be a matter 

 of conversation in the office, at the club, and in the home. 

 Until it is, the work ahead for all those who have coi- 

 servation at heart looms large. 



