584 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



ments, with certain optimistic reassurances from others. 

 Then the faint burr of propeller and engine electrified 

 the group of watchers; faint and far a bird-like form 

 showed above the trees, and then swept up fully into 

 view. Was there ever such a thrill? There was no 

 cheering; everybody was holding his breath! 



In 1917 it was different. Airplanes were, compara- 

 tively speaking, quite common. Washington, between 

 the parade ground at Fort Myer and the flying field at 

 College Park, had become quite blase to flying machines 

 gliding across the city at twilight. Then, too, the aerial- 

 ists who exhibited their powers at fairs, had added to 

 their repertoires the feat of circling the capitol dome and 



Copyright 1817 by International Film Service, Inc. 



AT WORK ON THE FRAME FOR A GOVERNMENT AIRPLANE 



Great care and precision are required in the building of an airplane. If the pi 



fare this accuracy of construction involves not merely the life of the aviator, but the safety of an entire 

 army may depend on it if the bird-man is engaged in directing the operations of the hghting forces be- 

 low. Thia means that every step must be taken with the utmost skill and caution. The delicate construc- 

 tion IS apparent. 



looping-the-loop above the apex of the Washington 

 Monument. 



Rut these Italians had something new. They used 

 large planes and did all of the exhibition stunts and a 

 few others besides, including a heart-stopping sidewise 

 fall that might fool even an enemy pilot into believing 

 they had been mortally hit. 



"Eyetalians puUin' dat stuflf!" was the disparaging 

 remark of a messenger boy who stopped to watch the 

 performance, despite a half-dozen telegrams in his hat. 

 "Don't tell me a bunch o' Wops is gettin' away wid dat 

 box o' tricks. Dem's Americans ; we're de only ones dat's 

 got de goods in dat stuff." And he would not be per- 

 suaded otherwise. No sir-ree ! 

 But there were the planes, 

 heavier than air, larger than 

 a freight car in outside dimen- 

 sions, disporting themselves 

 like playful swallows, and do- 

 ing topsy-turvy tumbling 

 that no sane swallow ever 

 thought of undertaking. 

 Structures of cloth, and wire 

 and wood, supporting heavy 

 engines and passengers, play- 

 ing in the air with the easy, 

 careless grace of fur-seals in 

 the billows of the sea ! 



"And wood," says the re- 

 current and insistent thought 

 of the forester, "is the essence 

 of their construction." His- 

 tory, which does not go far 

 back in this case, says the 

 same thing. Here is the 

 record. 



During the years from 

 about 1910 to 1915, the Forest 

 Service made a series of 

 studies of the wood-using in- 

 dustries of the United States, 

 by States. These were made 

 in co-operation with the 

 States themselves, or with or- 

 ganizations within the State 

 boundaries, and the results 

 were published by the co- 

 operating agency, or, in some 

 instances by lumber trade 

 journals. 



These reports took up each 

 wood-using industry in alpha- 

 betical order, discussed its 

 needs and its value, gave the 

 kinds of woods used and the 

 sources of the raw material. 

 The alphabetical lists usually 

 began with "agricultural im- 

 plements" or "automobiles," 

 and ended with "umbrella 



