THE NEED FOR AN ARMY FOREST SERVICE 



363 



timber. Twenty-four States are receiving co-operation. 

 These States expend yearly for fire protection upwards 

 of $625,000, and private owners of forest land within their 

 borders expend in normal years approximately a like 

 amount. The Federal appropriation is but $100,000, 

 which is entirely inadequate. This amount has remained 

 unchanged since 1915, in spite of the fact that the number 

 of co-operating States has increased from 18 to 24, and 

 the cost of the work has practically doubled. The 

 national policy of forestry advocated by the Forest 

 Service contemplates a large extension of such co-opera- 

 tive fire protection. Not less than $500,000 is required 

 to meet the needs of this situation adequately. Yet the 

 present appropriation is but $100,000 and there is even 

 danger of its being reduced. 



The Forest Service is conducting at its Forest Products 

 Laboratory work of very great and immediate impor- 

 tance to the pulp and paper manufacturer. Limited 

 though such work is, it has already covered a large field 

 in the suitability of various American woods for the 

 different kinds of pulp, and incidentally has developed 

 information of great importance on the technique of the 

 various pulp-making processes. Along a limited number 

 of other lines it has also been possible to make a begin- 

 ning, as, for example, through co-operation, on the 

 causes of and remedies for the molding and decay of 

 pulp. The work already under way should be very 

 materially expanded, and there is a wide range of other 

 subjects on which intensive investigations would benefit 

 both the public and the pulp and paper industry. 



THE NEED FOR AN ARMY FOREST SERVICE 



MANY perhaps believe that the great war which we 

 have just been through revealed for the first time 

 the necessity of an Army forest service charged 

 with meeting the needs of the combatant units for wood. 

 This is not true, says J. Demorlaine, a Frenchman inter- 

 ested in forestry, and he adds : "A chapter in the 'Ex- 

 ploitation des Bois' by Duhamel du Montceau proves the 

 contrary, and is worth recalling today. One might be- 

 lieve that the passage was written yeesterday ; yet it dates 

 from 1764. 



"Armies in the field," wrote Duhamel du Montceau, "in 

 addition to their need for fuel, often have to construct 

 entrenchments, to build barracks in the fall, or to conduct 

 sieges or systematic attacks. For all these purposes 

 considerable quantities of material are needed, which are 

 naturally cut in the forests within easiest reach of the 

 places where they are to be used. These expeditions 

 are the ruin of the forests, especially when the cutting is 

 done by regular troops, who seem to take pleasure in 

 causing more damage than is necessary. 



"The materials needed consist both of timber and of 

 smaller products, such as twigs, withes, and pickets. 

 These smaller products, after being brought from the 

 forests, are made into various kinds of fascines, faggots, 

 gabions, blinds, candle-holders, and litters. 



"Often cuttings are made in those parts of the forests 

 that are most accessible and most convenient to the roads 

 and railroads, as a result of which the district is ruined, 

 whereas if the choice were extended over the entire forest 

 this might not be the case. 



"Finally the fact that these supplies must nearly al- 

 ways be furnished under pressure during the exigencies 

 of open war, causes the work to be done with a haste 

 that is very apt to increase the disorder and to ruin the 



forests still further. 



* * * 



"The ordinary soldiers who are entrusted with secur- 

 ing these materials usually spread out in all directions, 

 cut the coppice high in order not to inconvenience them- 

 selves, break off and damage more wood than they carry 

 away, wound just for amusement all the trees that they 



meet, and commonly do the woods an injury which can 

 be repaired only after a very long time. 



"Whenever these contributions, which bear with par- 

 ticular severity on those districts in the theater of opera- 

 tions, can be supplied with any sort of economy, it 

 would be wise' of the commanding general, mindful of 

 the fact that such devastation can profit no one and that 

 it ruins the country for many years, to impose them 

 systematically on the country and to send his troops for 

 them only in case of absolute necessity. 



"As for the damages done to our forests in securing 

 war materials, a remedy could easily be supplied by hav- 

 ing forest officers work with the Engineer Corps, since 

 these know better than any one else how to conduct 

 operations with a wise economy." 



If the Inspector General of the Navy under Louis XVI 

 were to return among us today, he would doubtless recog- 

 nize with pleasure that his vision had been clear and 

 that his ideas, 150 years later, had succeeded in justify- 

 ing themselves. Consummate observer, forester in the 

 best sense of the word, Duhamel du Montceau foresaw 

 the indispensable organization of an Army Forest 

 Service. 



So this prophecy, inspired by the best of good sense, 

 teaches and serves us. The role of the foresters in time 

 of war has just been completely demonstrated. 



The war of 1870-71 had perhaps confused people's 

 ideas somewhat as to the mission that foresters would 

 be called upon to fulfill in the field. The progress of 

 modern war, which can only become still further accenu- 

 ated, will render more and more necessary an autonomous 

 Army Forest Service, with the same standing as the 

 Engineer or Quartermaster Corps. This service should 

 have its own life and its own military status in time of 

 peace. It should direct the formation, management, in- 

 struction, and organization of the companies of mobil- 

 ized foresters, or Forest Sappers. 



This is the true solution of the problem of the con- 

 servation and at the same time the exploitation of the 

 forests for the needs of war. "There is nothing new 

 under the sun." 



