INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH IN FOREST PRODUCTS 



PRELIMINARY arrangements are well under way 

 for a big get-together at Madison, Wisconsin, dur- 

 ing the latter part of June to celebrate the tenth 

 anniversary of the opening of the Forest Products Lab- 

 oratory. It is expected that a large gathering of rep- 

 resentatives from the various industries interested in 

 the laboratory's work will be present, and opportunity 

 will be afforded for recreation, as well as for becoming 

 more familiar with the extent and significance of the 

 laboratory's activities. The laboratory is a branch of 

 the United States Forest Service, established in 1910, 

 in co-operation with the University of Wisconsin, and 

 is a consolidation of a number of testing laboratories 

 and other units of the Forest Service, which had been 

 located at various points throughout the United States. 

 It is engaged principally in industrial research on prob- 

 lems connected with the manufacture and use of forest 



authority and with information gathered from obser- 

 vations of the work of the laboratory on the ground of 

 operations. So strongly do I feel that this laboratory 

 should be encouraged in its splendid work under the 

 excellent supervision of its director, Mr. C. P. Winslow, 

 ably supported by the assistant director, Mr. O. M. 

 Butler, and the efficient members of the staff who are 

 men of high caliber and large scientific attainments 

 that were it not for the very strained condition of our 

 National Treasury and the general slogan for retrench- 

 ment of expenditures I would, at the proper time, move 

 an amendment to double the appropriation called for in 

 the bill. Indeed, I sincerely hope that we shall agree 

 that it will be a matter of economy and conservation of 

 our commercial, financial, and economical resources as 

 a Nation to increase this appropriation in next year's 

 budget to at least $500,000, so as to give adequate sup- 



MAIN BUILDING OF THE FOREST PRODUCTS LABORATORY 



The laboratory occupies, in addition to this building which is the property of the University of Wisconsin, one other building smaller than 

 this one, and parts of two other University buildings. It occupies also several other buildings of more or less temporary construction, such 

 as the pulp digester house, the box laboratory, the sawmill, and the various storage sheds. 



products, including besides lumber, posts, poles, ties 

 and similar products, pulp and paper, naval stores, hard- 

 wood and softwood distillation products, and other 

 chemicals and pharmaceuticals. At the present time, 

 the laboratory employs about 200 people, and occupies 

 five buildings in whole or in part. 



An excellent presentation of the work done at the 

 laboratory was made recently by Hon. A. P. Nelson, of 

 Wisconsin, in an address in Congress in support of the 

 appropriation desired for the laboratory. He said: 



"I happen to be quite familiar with the work of the 

 Forest Products Laboratory located at Madison, Wiscon- 

 sin, having been 13 years a member of the board of re- 

 gents of the University of Wisconsin, and a member of 

 the board when this laboratory was located at Madison 

 in 1910. I can, therefore, speak with some degree of 



port to one of the most important scientific bureaus of 

 investigations and tests carried on by our Government in 

 the conservation of our natural resources. 



"The present lumber and wood prices are the highest 

 the t have ever been known in the United States, and are 

 still rising. In spite of rapidly increasing prices, which 

 are partly due to the growing shortage of materials, 

 there is an appalling waste and loss of efficiency in 

 handling, through practically every phase of wood man- 

 ufacture and utilization, from the logging operations in 

 the woods to the completion, shipment, and even in the 

 use of the final product. Losses in the seasoning of 

 wood in the United States at the present time are con- 

 servatively estimated to reach nearly $50,000,000 an- 

 nually. Every dollar of this loss is an added cost in 

 the production of lumber and every board foot wasted 



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