AMERICAN FORESTRY 



247 



FARMERS URGING IMPORTANCE OF FORESTRY 





forests owned by large industries, forests 

 owned as game preserves by wealthy 

 sportsmen, forests remaining where the 

 land is unfit for cultivation never will 

 restore bird life on productive farms. But 

 if every farm had a wood lot productively 

 maintained, yielding continuously, yet not 

 decreasing, the bird life which the De- 

 partment of Agriculture says is enormous- 

 ly valuable to agriculture would be restor- 

 ed. It would be distributed where it is 

 needed. Moreover wood unmerchantable 

 timber as fuel on 7,000,000 farms, used to 

 supplement coal or used exclusively, would 

 take millions of dollars annually from the 

 cost of living on the American farm. 



At present, the power saw is destroying 

 remaining timber rapidly because coal 

 hauled from distant mines is too costly. 

 No provision is made for renewal of sup- 

 ply. 



In the farm wood lot, assuredly, lies the 

 possibility of supplies for the wood using 

 industries. But will the possibilities of 

 the wood lot be realized unless Federal or 

 State governments undertake to build up 

 forestry on farms? 



Washington Herald : "As our timber sup- 

 ply is reduced, his service in conservation 

 and expanding the timber resources of 

 the farm will be increasingly important, ne- 

 cessitating an intimacy with forestry and 

 forestation." President Harding to the 

 Farm Congress. 



In closing his welcoming address at the 

 opening of the Farm Congress, in the 

 words quoted above. President Harding 

 took up one of the imost vital questions be- 

 fore the country today. That expression 

 of opinion on the part of the President 

 "lould be a cause for rejoicing by members 

 the American Forestry Association. 

 restry began in the late seventies. The 

 neers were in the same category as 

 lie man who spoke seriously of flying ma- 

 ines, women voting, prohibition, and oth- 

 things that have since come to pass. 

 Now the pioneer, however, is in the posi- 

 n of him who can laugh last. 

 But like the Roman of old, who stood 

 up in the senate day after day and declared 

 I that Carthage must be destroyed until at 

 last they believed him, so the American 

 restry Association, day in and day out, 

 preaching forestry and reforestation 

 "iroughout the land. 

 The president of the -American Forestry 

 lOciation calls the press of the country 

 " voice of the people. He knows the 

 vspapers reflect that voice. He knows 

 newspapers endeavor to reflect that 

 ice accurately. He also knows that noth- 

 -T impresses the Representative so much 

 an expression of opinion from his own 



district. The newspapers have answered 

 his call in fine fashion. The Herald is 

 pleased to know that its editorials and Dar- 

 ling's cartoons have a place in the "voice 

 of the country" as presented by Mr. Pack. 

 The question of forestry legislation is one 

 on which the whole country must wake up. 



Neiv York Commercial: To the lay 

 mind it would seem as^ if there ought to 

 be trees enough in the United States to 

 provide for our timber needs for genera- 

 tions ahead, that is, if the layman gives 

 the matter any thought at all, which he 

 probably does not; while even those who 

 would give the matter consideration if 

 they thought it worth while do not even 

 know that it is worth while. Thus when 

 the matter is brought to public attention, 

 it comes as something of a shock to realize 

 that even now we are dependent upon im- 

 ported lumber to a tremendous extent. Mr. 

 Charles Lathrop Pack, president of the 

 American Forestry Association, drew at- 

 tention to the seriousness of the problem 

 confronting us in the matter of future sup- 

 plies. The lumber cut in the State of New 

 York alone has dropped almost 60 per cent 

 since 1910, and the building industry in 

 this state is using imported lumber in the 

 ratio of about one to six. It seems incred- 

 ible that local interests have to depend 

 upon lumber which requires a journey of 

 3,000 miles by rail before it is used. 



The economic importance of an adequate 

 timber supply is so great as to demand 

 immediate consideration, and the fullest 

 support should be given to the measures 

 now before Congress designed to aid in the 

 restoration of the forests. 



Phoenix Gazette : "In the meantime, 

 what?" asks American Forestry. During 

 the next half-century, while we draw from 

 the forests of Canada, are we going to put 

 our own forests in order? Effective for- 

 estry, which includes the curbing of the fire 

 menace, is one of the most important prob- 

 lems before the United States today and it 

 directly affects every newspaper, every 

 homebuilder and practically every industry. 

 It is the duty of every newspaper both 

 from a public and individual standpoint to 

 inform itself and reiterate the need of r 

 definite constructive forestry policy in the 

 United States based on our estimated needs 

 half a century from now. 



Burlington, (Vt.,) News: Increased 

 production is the cry of the times. In- 

 creased production from land is just as im- 

 portant as increased production by human 

 labor. The idleness of one hundred mil- 

 lion acres of forest land is just as serious 



today and more lasting in its effects than 

 the idleness of thousands of skilled me- 

 chanics, the American Forestry Associa- 

 tion argues in its campaign for a national 

 forest policy. It is nothing short of na- 

 tional folly to go on, year after year, de- 

 vastating millions of acres of forest land 

 and failing through bad organization, 

 through inadequate public effort, and 

 through a lack of clear definition of public 

 and private responsibility to produce one 

 of our most essential raw materials. 



Greeley Tribune : On the whole the 

 situation is rather hopeful. It is even 

 probable that future generations may have 

 all the timber they need, though the pres- 

 ent generation will continue to suffer from 

 the waste and improvidence of the past. 



Akron Beacon-Journal: It is a great be- 

 ginning that the government is making in 

 the conservation of the timber resources. 

 The movement in this direction will not end 

 until the preservative spirit is applied to 

 every woodlot in the land. 



Albany Journal: Making report to the 

 -American Forestry Association, Dean 

 Reisner, of the college of agriculture and 

 forestry of the University of Nankin, Chi- 

 na, points to the latest great flood disaster, 

 as an example of the effect of neglect of 

 reforestation, and therefore a warning to 

 the United Stats to extend and expedite 

 such work. Reforestation is a task that 

 ought to be undertaken and continued, year 

 after year, throughout those regions of this 

 country where so long the cutting of for- 

 ests has been going on without adequate 

 work of restoration. 



Oil City Blizzard : Although Germany 

 suffered a tremendous loss in timber re- 

 sources as a result of the war Uncle Sam 

 can go the Germans one better. For exam- 

 ple, says the American Forestry Magazine, 

 "Germany, because of the war, lost about 

 21,547,520 acres of land exclusive of pleb- 

 escites. The United States, during the pe- 

 riod of 1916-1920, inclusive, burned up 56,- 

 488,307 acres of forested area over two 

 and one-half times as much as Germany's 

 entire loss an area greater than New York 

 and Pennsylvania combined, or of Minne- 

 sota, Kansas, Idaho, or Utah." Uncle 

 Sam had better take a hitch in his belt. 

 Business men are paying $15 per thousand 

 on freight shipments of lumber from dis- 

 tant points. These manufacturing plants 

 are right in the center of where once was 

 "all the lumber in the world," according to 

 some people. 



