340 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



as one of the big economic problems of the day. Farmers 

 are making forestry a plank in their organization plat- 

 forms. State and local forestrj' associations arc springing 

 up everywhere. Those already in existence are growing 

 stronger. Game, recreational and other organizations 

 of similar character are awaking to the fact that forestry 

 is necessary to the accomplishment of their objects. The 

 general public is at the threshold of fully appreciating 

 the diversified and sweeping way in which forests support 

 our social and industrial welfare. The sentiment, "We 



Must Have Forests," is coming from all directions and 

 from all classes. 



This sentiment is a gathering force. It represents 

 varying conception of forestry and varying interests in 

 forests, but its big common objective is a national forest 

 policy. Wisely united and directed, its strength will be 

 increased many fold and the accomplishment of a national 

 forest policy will be a matter of a relatively short time. 

 Why not bring this sentiment to a focus in a large 

 national forestry conference in Washington next winter? 



THE CENTRAL STATES FORESTRY LEAGUE 



FN A recent letter to the chairman of the Public Affairs 

 Committee of the Union League Club, Chicago, the 

 President of the United States, Warren G. Harding, 

 wrote : 



"The problem of forest conservation, and of the most 

 economical utilization of our forest resources, is now uni- 

 versally recognized as one of the most serious confronting 

 the nation. Much progress has been made in the last 

 few decades in dealing with it, but there is need for 

 much further accomplishment. Feeling, as I do, that 

 the development of a broad constructive policy touching 

 this subject is highly desirable, I have to express partic- 

 ular satisfaction with the effort which is represented 

 by your conference." 



President Harding referred to the Central States For- 

 estry Conference held under the auspices of the Union 

 League Club on April 19 and 20. This conference 

 marked the permanent formation of the Central States 

 Forestry League, an organization which now stands as 

 an expression of leadership first taken by the Union 

 League Club, a public service organization of national 

 recognition. 



Less than two years ago, the club appointed a forestry 

 committee which effected a temporary interstate organi- 

 zation in which eight States Indiana, Iowa, Illinois, 

 Missouri, Michigan, Ohio, Minnesota and Wisconsin 

 were represented. The first conference was held at the 

 Union League Club in Chicago in February, 1921. The 

 object was to arouse common interest in forestry in the 

 Central States rather than to establish a permanent or- 

 ganization. At the conference this spring, however, 

 the movement was carried a step forward by the dele- 

 gates themselves who voted unanimously to make the 

 organization permanent. 



The Union League Club rightly deserves the Presi- 



dent's commendation. Its leadership has been a telling 

 force. It has advanced materially the cause of forestry 

 in the Central States by bringing the forest situation 

 in each State and in the region as a whole clearly before 

 the people and by fixing public attention upon its eco- 

 nomic importance. 



Something of the severity of the situation in these 

 States is reflected in the resolutions passed by the con- 

 ference. They call attention to the fact that the eight 

 States represented contain 34 million or one-third of 

 the nation's population and "the largest and best contin- 

 uous area of tilled land in the world," producing a fanm 

 crop worth over three billion dollars ; that this district 

 today faces a most serious shortage of timber "with only 

 about 12 per cent of its area in trees, not 3 per cent real 

 forests in fair condition" and that it has now become 

 necessary to import 60 per cent of its lumber from the 

 South and West at an annual cost of $300,000,000 a year. 



"We regret the evil consequences of this forest de- 

 struction," reads another paragraph of the resolutions, 

 "and the utter indifference of the public, the dismantling 

 of hundreds of miles of railway, the abandonment of 

 towns and of hundreds of farms with all the resultant 

 injury and suffering and the loss of satisfactory local 

 government. We call attention especially to the serious 

 damage done to good farm districts and other lands by 

 unusual erosion, following the clearing of lands, and we 

 urge that every reasonable effort be made to stop this." 



Surely this is a situation which needs not only aggres- 

 sive work by the individual States in their respective 

 fields, but the larger public influence to be derived from 

 common effort and cooperation. This the Central States 

 Forestry League, as a permanent organization, should 

 supply. 



