INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH IN FOREST PRODUCTS 



407 



need. We should find by tests what they are. The 

 Forest Products Laboratory, provided with adequate 

 funds to carry on tests and experiments, would, undoubt- 

 edly, find some relief for the acute situation which now 

 exists. Indeed, could Congress be made to realize and 

 understand the importance of the pulp and paper divi- 

 sion of the Madison Laboratory alone, it would gladly 

 and promptly provide an adequate appropriation for its 

 support. 



"An important phase of forest-products research is 

 co-operation with industries and the public, to assist as 

 fully as possible in putting promising laboratory results 



valued at over $10,000,000,000. The application of the 

 results of the laboratory's investigations have already 

 resulted in direct savings to this country amounting to 

 many times more than the total cost of maintaining the 

 institution during the past 10 years. 



"There is an ever increasing demand upon the labor- 

 atory organization for further work, and this has never 

 been more acute and important than now, when the 

 constantly rising cost of lumber and other wooden prod- 

 ucts is making economy in the utilization of forest prod- 

 ucts of increasing importance not only to the industries 

 concerned, but to the public as a whole. It would seem, 



. PAPER MAKING MACHINE 



This machine is used for determining the paper making qualities of native woods. Such information is urgently needed at present, on account 

 of the rapidly diminishing supply of the woods commonly used for the manufacture of paper pulp. 



into practice, and this phase of the work should be devel- 

 oped in proportion to the investigations. It is as im- 

 portant to see that the results of the work are effectively 

 utilized as it is to conduct the research; this can only 

 be accomplished by the development of a group of spe- 

 cialists able to lend assistance of a practical nature at 

 the plant or place of operation of the manufacturer en- 

 gaged in the use of wood or its by-products. 



"In general, the Forest Products Laboratory is prac- 

 tically the only institution of appreciable size in ex- 

 istence which is devoting its attention solely to wood 

 and its by-products. Its work bears directly on the 

 problems of industries manufacturing annually products 



therefore, a short-sighted policy to restrict the activities 

 of this institution, and that in any sound policy of econ- 

 omy adequate provision for the continuation and ex- 

 pansion of the work of this institution should be made. 



"Economy and efficiency in handling forest products, 

 and a comprehensive plan for reforestation of our de- 

 nuded wasteland areas, is a national necessity. One of 

 the greatest and most important national problems to- 

 day is the proper conservation and utilization of the 

 products of our rapidly depleting forests. A national 

 forest policy is one of the pressing needs in our recon- 

 struction program." 



