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I AMERICAN FORESTRY i 



VOL. XXVI 



JUNE 1920 



NO. 318 



EDITORIAL 



A MERICAN FORESTRY has frequently emphasized 

 -"*- the necessity for a constructive plan to keep the 

 large forest areas of New England productive. One of 

 the most far-sighted and promising steps in this direction 

 is the proposal now brought before the Legislature of 

 .Massachusetts by an initiative petition bearing the signa- 

 ture of 31,000 citizens of the State for the purchase and 

 reforestation of 250,000 acres of her idle forest lands. 

 Massachusetts, which has been forced to import steadily 

 increasing quantities of timber from the Gulf Coast and 

 the Pacific Northwest, has within a stone's throw of her 

 teeming factories a million acres of burned and cut off 

 timber land now producing but a small fraction of the 

 wood which it might grow. Much of this land was once 

 part of the wonderful white pine forests which greeted 

 the Pilgrims. 



The plan proposed strikes directly at the problem 

 presented by this enormous acreage of idle land in the 

 heart of one of the most highly developed manufacturing 

 sections of the country. The State will not only buy a 

 quarter of the land, but will immediately restock it so 

 that within ten years the areas purchased will be growing 

 timber at their full productive capacity. The scheme is 

 particularly significant in this respect. While other 

 States have acquired or retained cut off timber land, 

 the planting of denuded areas is proceeding slowly. 

 Massachusetts proposes not only to enter the first rank 

 <>f forest owners but immediately to make her State 

 properties highly productive forests. 



The broad financial basis of the scheme will also com- 

 mend itself to all those who believe in an aggressive 

 attack upon our national forest problem. Current 

 revenues to the State are not mortgaged and tax bur- 

 dens will not be increased. The enterprise, including 

 even the current protection of the new forests, will be 

 carried by serial bonds until sufficient revenues are 



STATE FORESTS IN MASSACHUSETTS 



obtained to liquidate capital charges and make the 

 project self-supporting. In other words, the State will 

 become the owner of an exceedingly valuable forest 

 property simply by the loan of its credit. 



The calculations of yield and ultimate returns upon 

 which this proposal is based appear sound. Regardless 

 of detailed figures, it is doubtful if anyone can question 

 the fundamental soundness from a purely financial stand- 

 point of a long-term investment of this character in a 

 region where unused forest land is so cheap, where tree 

 growth is so rapid, and timber values are so high. 

 Nevertheless, no one should lose sight of the fact that 

 the greatest return to Massachusetts will not appear on 

 the ledger of its timber purchasing account. The pro- 

 duction at home of a large quantity of timber needed 

 by the industries of the State, the effect of a large local 

 production upon lumber prices in a competitive market 

 partly supplied from outside sources, the stimulus given 

 to the reforestation of similar land by private owners, 

 the public benefits of large areas of State forest at the 

 doors of densely populated towns for health and recre- 

 ation these in the long run will be the greatest returns. 



The Massachusetts Forestry Association is to be 

 warmly commended for the far-sighted initiative which 

 has now made it possible to bring this plan in concrete 

 form before the people of the State. Every advocate 

 of forestry should support it. There are few things 

 which Massachusetts could do which would contribute 

 more to the security of her industries in the future or to 

 the general welfare of her people. And in the adoption 

 of this measure, Massachusetts will set an admirable 

 example to many other States, confronted with the same 

 problem of idle forest land and excessive prices on im- 

 ported lumber, in the constructive solution of a difficult 

 problem. 



GENERAL WOOD FOR A FOREST POLICY 



TT is well to know, in advance of election, the views of 

 * any candidate for office, and the question of State and 

 National forest policies. An appreciation of the value of 

 forests ; an acknowledgment of their vital importance ; 

 and a desire to aid in measures to perpetuate them is 

 what is expected of every good citizen. It is, therefore, 

 not surprising that Major General Leonard Wood, long 

 a member of the American Forestry Association, a close 

 friend and confidant of Colonel Roosevelt, who was an 



ardent advocate of forestry, should in a letter to Presi- 

 dent Charles Lathrop Pack, of the Association, voice 

 his sentiments in the following pertinent paragraphs : 



"I am heartily in favor of a National and State legis- 

 lative program which will provide for the perpetuation 

 of our forests so that there will be a sufficient supply of 

 forest products for our future needs, as well as ample 

 forests for the protection of watersheds and for the recre- 

 ational needs of the people. 



