AMERICAN FORESTRY 



197 



down" the price on the ground of long-standing friend- 

 ship of the families the writer knows instances of each 

 of these and other unfair practices, cannot be condoned. 

 Many farm woodland owners will not pay any real 

 attention to growing timber unless it pays them in dollars 



and cents to do so; they cannot make their operations 

 profitable at the price profiteers pay for timber. The 

 country's needs demand that their lands be made as pro- 

 ductive as possible. Profiteering in the timber of our 

 farms must cease. 



RIGHT ABOUT FACE TO THE FIRES 



rpHE forest fires in the Northwest last summer and in 

 * Minnesota the year before challenge the effective- 

 ness of our work in forestry. They point sharply to the 

 immediate, .urgent need in the woods of the North and 

 West. Thousands of acres of timber and of young 

 growth are destroyed every year or two, and dozens of 

 lives are lost. 



No measures for the establishment or maintenance of 

 productive forests, other than fire protection, are worth 

 while until adequate fire protection becomes an accom- 

 plished facts. Forest plantations, and special fire pro- 

 tection on publicly owned lands are both accomplishing 

 a little, but the progress is far too slow, and very ex- 

 pensive. The result is net loss. The woods call for 

 adequate fire protection now, on the privately owned 

 lands. Protection of natural young growth from fire is 

 the cheapest, most effective method of reforestation. 



The methods of fire prevention and control in the 



various types of forest are well understood, and ade- 

 quate results are possible. 



Democratic government is instituted to protect life 

 and property. When timber was cheap and abundant, 

 lack of fire protection was excusable, but this condition 

 is past. Protection of forests from fire, like protection 

 of any other property of value, is a normal, police duty 

 of government. It can be administered practically under 

 the authority of the state governments, or by co-opera- 

 tion of the Federal government with the state govern- 

 ments, and expenses can be met under any one of several 

 co-operative methods between the Federal and state 

 governments and the landowner, as local conditions may 

 render practical. 



The work to be done now is to make certain that ap- 

 propriations and legislation for thorough fire protection 

 have the right of way. 



A NATIONAL FOREST POLICY PROGRAM 



T\ R. B. E. FERNOW, in an editorial utterance in the 

 *-' Journal of Forestry, says of the action of the Ameri- 

 can Paper and Pulp Association in accepting a report of 

 its committee on Forest Conservation with suggestions 

 for a national forest policy : "It takes the position that 

 there is 'no basis for any legal compulsion upon the 

 private landowner to keep his land forested except in 

 cases where after proper classification and indemnifica- 

 tion it may be decided that the general welfare demands 

 watershed protection,' but it admits that the private 

 owner 'is under both moral and legal obligation to handle 

 his property in such a way that it does not become a 

 public menace and the State may require him to con- 

 duct his cutting operations in such fashion as to lessen 

 the fire danger.' It declares that 'the production of large- 

 sized timber is too long an undertaking with too great 

 hazards and too low a rate of return to attract private 



capital in adequate amount.' It advocates a forest sur- 

 vey and land classification ; public purchase of cut-over 

 lands by National and State governments in co-operation, 

 and also more vigorous extension of Federal co-opera- 

 tion with the States in fire prevention ; fair forest taxa- 

 tion laws ; a very large program of forest planting ; 

 nurseries and working plans and other means of aiding 

 reforesting operations, especially for smaller land hold- 

 ers; and a definite policy in operating State-owned 

 lands. It is also admitted that some paper and pulp 

 concerns might practice forestry on their own lands. 



"With this attitude and program," says Dr. Fernow, 

 "we can certainly not find any fault. It expresses all 

 that we have contended for as practicable means for 

 carrying out a national forest policy. What we need 

 now are definitely drawn acts of legislation." 



SHADE TREES AND FOREST CONSERVATION 



TX his Arbor Day proclamation the Mayor of Dallas, 

 * Texas, not only calls attention to the value of shade 

 trees but adds this significant paragraph : "The forests 

 of this nation and of this state are being depleted to an 

 alarming extent. Insect pests and enemies of trees are 

 rapidly increasing, and it behooves us to adopt strenuous 

 measures to save the trees we have, and to insure a 

 source of timber supply for the future." 



The Mayor recognizes the fact that if people are in- 



terested in shade trees they are likely to be receptive of 

 ideas about forest conservation. Editors throughout the 

 country who have been giving liberally of the space in 

 their newspapers to forestry publicity and shade tree 

 publicity have frequently expressed the same thought in 

 their editorials, and we read of many organizations which 

 having planted roadside trees or memorial trees are 

 now discussing the need of a national forest policy, and 

 are ready to lend their assistance in the effort to secure it. 



