AMERICAN FORESTRY 



325 



steadily increasing importance to us. Moreover, even 

 should we adopt a comprehensive forest policy which 

 will assure us a sufficient timber supply to meet our own 

 needs and leave a comfortable surplus for export, we 

 shall undoubtedly wish to develop timber trade relations 

 with other countries in and bordering the Pacific. Doug- 

 las fir from the Northwest, for example, should find a 

 ready market in Australia and other countries poor in 

 softwoods, while in return we may wish to import hard- 

 woods from them. The world is constantly growing 

 smaller, and as trade becomes more and more inter- 

 national in character there will be an increasing inter- 

 change between countries of forest products as well as 

 of other commodities. 



All of this means that there must be far more knowl- 

 edge than is now available as to the forest resources of 

 the world. The Pan-Pacific Scientific Congress offers an 

 excellent opportunity to formulate a concrete program 

 for securing scientific information of this sort. Such a 

 program should include investigations of the extent and 

 character of the forests ; of the identification, properties, 



and value of the trees composing them ; of their utiliza- 

 tion and management; and of the many economic prob- 

 lems involved in the development and maintenance of 

 an international trade in forest products. The under- 

 taking is one of enormous magnitude and calls for the 

 best brains and the most cordial co-operation of all 

 those interested to carry it to completion. 



In all probability, the congress will be attended by 

 forestry representatives from Hawaii and the Philip- 

 pines. American Forestry wishes to urge the importance 

 of having similar representation from the United States 

 proper. Surely the forest problems of the Pacific are of 

 sufficient interest to this country to justify the Federal 

 Forest Service in sending one or more representatives. 

 Delegates might also be sent to advantage from the 

 forest schools, at least two of which now offer instruction 

 in tropical forestry. The first of August is only two 

 months away. It is none too early for the Forest Service 

 and other interested organizations and individuals to 

 begin to formulate plans for active participation in the 

 congress. 



FORESTRY IN 



fPHAT Australia is much better off regarding future 

 -* supplies of lumber than is the United States, is the 

 assertion of V. B. Trapp, of Melbourne, president of the 

 Victorian Forest League. In a letter to the editor of 

 American Forestry, Mr. Trapp says : 



"There is no doubt the world is threatened with a 

 timber famine, and the only way to bring this home to the 

 public is through forestry associations. We here are 

 certainly better off than you, although we have not 

 nearly sufficient forests for the future generations. Tak- 

 ing it all through in Australia, 90% of the forest lands 

 are still held by the Government. There is not 10.% 

 privately owned. You can well judge -how important 



AUSTRALIA 



this is and also how fortunate Australia is not to have 

 alienated its forests. By proper supervision, 30 to 40 

 years should see Australia in one of the best positions 

 as regards timbers. Again, fortunately for us, our hard- 

 woods, which are beginning to be appreciated, regenerate 

 themselves. Our shortage is in softwoods and we have 

 ample land for the proper growing of the pines.". 



If 90% of the forests of the United States were owned 

 by the Government and the States, and there were ample 

 appropriations for reforesting cutover lands and protect- 

 ing the forests, this country would also in a moderately 

 short time be able to assure future generations of suffi- 

 cient supplies of home grown timber for our future needs. 



SWEDEN SETS US 



TpHE impression made upon an American student ot 

 -*- Forestry by the practice of forestry in Sweden is 

 interesting reading, now that the need of a forest policy 

 in this country is receiving so much attention. W. 

 Stuart Moir, of Yale Forest School, who holds an 

 American-Scandinavian Fellowship and is studying for- 

 estry in Sweden writes : 



"The longer I stay in a country where technical for- 

 estry management is practiced, the more strongly the 

 appreciation of what it means to the welfare of the 



A GOOD EXAMPLE 



country is impressed upon me. May we in America stir 

 ourselves and make an honest attempt to solve the 

 question of developing a rational forest policy before 

 we suffer staggering losses through our continual prac- 

 tice of exploitation and waste. 



"The American Forestry Association is the medium 

 through which the work of education can be carried 

 out which will lead to construction legislation along these 

 lines. It is great to see the way you are taking hold 

 of the task." 



AS IF TIMBER WAS INEXHAUSTIBLE 



TF all our citizens had the same clear sighted point of 

 * view regarding the forest situation as has the editor 

 of the Chattanooga, Tennessee, News, no further pro- 

 paganda for a national forest policy would be necessary 

 we could proceed to secure the necessary legislation at 

 once. He says, in commenting editorially on items sent 

 him by the American Forestry Association to show the 

 need of a national forest policy : "We use and waste 

 timber as if the supply were inexhaustible. When some 



one rises up to tell us the danger of the speed at which 

 we are traveling, we listen languidly for a brief while, 

 then proceed with the dance." He goes on to say further 

 "Americans found a continent well timbeied. They have 

 used forest products with a lavish hand. There has ap- 

 parently been an impression that we couldn't get along 

 with less. We shall have to learn the lesson however for 

 the end of our supply is in sight" 



