608 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



ardization of lumber and conversion practice must be 

 based upon scientitic studies of the ditterent woods and 

 their conversion and application to ditierent uses. Here 

 is a great Held of almost limitless possibilities. But 

 such studies will cost money. They must be done by un- 

 biased investigators. And they must be sufficiently 

 thorough cleany to indicate the advantages of the 

 changes proposed. From the publicity emanating from 



lumber sources, it is assumed that the lumbermen are 

 prepared to measure up to the job. 



Certainly, it is only on the basis indicated above that 

 the public interests will be fully and fairly served, while 

 failure on the part of the lumber industry to thus 

 carry through the project will injure the industry in its 

 public esteem quite as much as it will set back the pro- 

 gress of the whole movement. 



9 



NATIONAL FORESTS AND SURPLUS MILITARY RESERVATIONS 



WHAT should be done with the one hundred or more 

 army training areas which the Federal Govern- 

 ment acquired during the war in the central and east- 

 ern slates? These reservations range in size from a 

 few hundred acres to more than one hundred thousand 

 acres. With our armed forces now reduced to five per 

 cent of their wartime strengfth, we have on our hands 

 a large area, in the aggregate, of surplus military res- 

 ervations, in which every citizen has a direct interest 

 but of which few have much knowledge. It is well to 

 bear in mind, therefore, that in time of war, these res- 

 ervations are chiefly valuable for military purposes and 

 that in times of peace, many and perhaps most of 

 them are chiefly valuable for growing forests. 



These areas were bought under war pressure and at 

 war prices. In some cases the Government paid $60 

 and more an acre for land which today or in the rea- 

 sonably near future will not bring anything like that 

 price. They are not well situated or well adapted to 

 private agriculture, industrial development or for 

 homes. This is a statement of fact and not a 

 criticism. Their importance in preparing the armies of 

 America for service abroad and at home could not then 

 'Wid cannot now be expressed in dollars and c ;nts. But 

 put upon the block today and knocked down to th^ high- 

 est bidder, there is no chance for the tax payer to get 

 even a fraction of his money back. 



Many of these reservations are not immediately need- 

 ed for military purposes. All may hope that never again 

 will America be called upon to raise and train great 

 armies for war. But hope blind to possibilities is foolish 

 and dangerous. If, in ten, twenty or thirty years we 

 should be brought sharply up against a crisis such as 

 that of 1 91 7, again might we need one hundred or more 

 suitable areas where men from the fields and factories 



could be quickly and properly trained to national de- 

 fense. If again we should have to buy these areas in 

 the open market, the expense of the previous operation 

 would be duplicated and probably doubled. Now that 

 we have them, instead of sacrificing them at a great 

 financial loss, the wisest course appears to be to de- 

 clare them National Forests, subject to military needs. 



For forestry offers the solution. Many of these res- 

 ervations are partly forested and are more suited for 

 forest purposes than for any other use. Joint examina- 

 tions of Camp Benning, Camp Humphries, Camp Meade 

 and others by military and forest officers have disclosed 

 that the dual use of the areas for military and forest 

 purposes is not only practicable but highly desirable. 

 Protected from fire and trespass, and put under sound 

 forest management, these reservations will contribute to 

 local development and progress and should in time pay 

 the Government a return on the investment. 



This is particularly true of the areas in the southern 

 pine belt where the rapid growing loblolly can be 

 brought to early maturity for saw-timber, and where 

 slash and long-leaf pine forests can be turpentined at 

 25 to 30 years. The realization of an income from these 

 lands would be further beneficial in that it is proposed 

 to devote 35 per cent of gross receipts to local road and 

 trail construction. Furthermore, the local population 

 would find new opportunities for profitable employment. 



Properly handled as National Forests, they will serve 

 their most useful and profitable peace-time purposes 

 as timber producing properties, as demonstration forests 

 where the most approved methods of forest practice can 

 be seen, as public recreation areas, and as upbuilders of 

 local communities. More than that, they will pay their 

 way, and, in years to come, they will return to the peo- 

 ple of the United States their wartime cost. 



DIRECTORS RESIGN 



At a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Ameri- 

 can Forestry Association at New York City September 

 19, Dr. Henry S. Drinker, who has been a director for 

 twelve years, resigned as director. The resignation was 



accepted with regret, as were the resignations of Mr. 

 Charles F. Quincy, who has also served for many years, 

 and of Mr. John Hays Hammond, wlio has been a direc- 

 tor for three years. 



