FORESTS INDISPENSABLE IN WAR 



19 



the right thing. Then if we do the right thing long 

 enough it is a perfectly natural consequence that good 

 forestry becomes the gift of each generation to succeed- 

 ing ones. 



The war is bleeding Europe dry of the forest growth 

 of a century. England, whose chief dependence for 

 wood for two centuries has been beyond the seas, is des- 

 tined to be stripped as bare as China before the end of 

 hostilities. She now sees her great mistake in the neg- 

 lect of her absolute forest lands and the great economic 

 advantage in times of war when lumber-laden ships are 

 swept from the sea, in having adequate reserves of lum- 

 ber. Many decades must pass after the dawn of peace 

 before Great Britain can re-establish productive stands 

 of timber. She has learned her lesson, and her meager 

 and scattered forests and neglected absolute forest land 

 of the past will, I believe, give way to a glorious renais- 

 sance and a development of well-managed forests be- 

 yond even the dream of the past. 



The well-managed forests of France in those parts of 

 the country not devastated by the nations of middle Eu- 

 rope are being depleted with startling rapidity. The 



These lessons of the great war that so clearly show the 

 necessity of forests for the existence of national life 

 should be taken to heart by the people of America. Our 

 slogan should be, "Make the land productive." This 

 slogan should ring from every schoolhouse, from every 

 board of trade, from every organization from Maine to 

 California that is striving for the betterment of the 

 nation. 



Not only should America work toward the conserva- 

 tion of her forests in all of her mountain areas, but the- 

 patriotism of the farmer should find expression in 

 making the woodlot a far more productive part of the 

 farm than it has been in the past. At this time of national 

 stress and emergency, when every resource of the nation 

 is scrutinized and adjusted to take its place in national 

 defense, the American woodlot should not be overlooked. 



The serious shortage in coal which confronted us dur- 

 ing last year crippled transportation, curtailed the 

 output of factories and worried the householder. The 

 pinch is being felt even greater the present year. 

 When coal, particularly for domestic purposes, is 



Photograph from Underwood & Underwood, New York. 



THESE WOMEN FILL THE SHOES OF MEN WITH SUCCESS 

 Reports from England show that the women who have turned lumberjacks in the British forests are doing the work as though they had been 

 accustomed to it all their lives. The women wear knickerbockers and heavy leggings and are always ready for every branch of the work of lum- 

 bering. In this picture two of them are shown dispatching timber from forest to sawmill. They work quickly and skilfully. 



French, however, with the assistance of American for- 

 esters, are felling the forests with an eye to the future 

 and the securing of reproduction so that when peace 

 comes the reconstruction will bring back the production 

 of the absolute forest lands to their normal capacity. The 

 forest capital of all Europe will, however, be enor- 

 mously cut into when fighting ceases and the not over- 

 abundant forest resources of the rest of the world will 

 be required to rebuild Europe. 



short, wood, to a very- large extent, should be sub- 

 stituted for it. It may be necessary to make this 

 substitution in many parts of the country during 

 the winter. Two cords of hard wood are about the 

 equivalent of a ton of anthracite coal. If found 

 necessary, the farmers' woodlots can save the trans- 

 portation and consumption of several million tons of 

 coal. Let us hope that the nation can get the coal 

 needed, but if mining and transportation break down the 



