580 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



The steadily increasing shortage of raw material in many 

 important wood-using industries does not help to re- 

 assure us. We cannot be blind to the fact that the disap- 

 pearance of our virgin forests, unaccompanied by any 

 real attempt to replace them by trees of equal size and 

 quality, is resulting in a progressive decrease in the 

 amount of high grade material available. 



We cannot help feeling that a community such as 

 Minneapolis, which formerly cut 500,000,000 board feet 

 of lumber a year, would be better off today if all of its 

 sawmills had not disappeared and if it did not have to 

 import from 80 to 90 per cent of the lumber which it 

 now consumes from the Pacific Coast. We cannot avoid 

 a suspicion that there is some connection between the 

 depletion of eastern softwoods and the fact that redwood 

 siding last summer retailed at $43 per thousand board 

 feet in Eureka, California, and for $130 per thousand 



in Washington, D. C, in spite of the fact that the freight 

 rate between the two places was only $8.50 per thousand. 

 It even strikes us as significant that the same issue which 

 contained the editorial already referred to should have 

 called attention to "the remarkable development of Amer- 

 ican markets for foreign lumber," and to the fact that 

 "imports of lumber have doubled and, in many instances, 

 more than trebled in volume and value within the year." 

 The signs of the times are too clear to be misread. 

 That "there always will be lumber" is doubtless true. 

 But it is equally true that it will be available only in 

 insufficient quantity, of poor quality, and at excessive 

 prices, unless we mend our ways. If we are to avoid 

 unpleasant consequences we shall have to take prompt 

 action to substitute for our present hit-or-miss treatment 

 of our forests a policy that will make and keep them 

 productive. 



HARDING FOR CONSERVATION 



ONE of the noteworthy developments in the Presiden- 

 tial campaign has been Senator Harding's unequi- 

 vocal support of forestry and other forms of conserva- 

 tion. Speaking to a delegation of Ohio editors on August 

 13, he urged the importance of forest conservation as a 

 means of insuring an adequate supply of newsprint paper. 

 The fact that we now import from other countries two- 

 thirds of the print paper that we consume, whereas ten 

 years ago we were self-supporting, emphasizes the sound- 

 ness of his plea for "a forest policy which shall make us 

 self-reliant once more." Particularly gratifying is his 

 recognition that "permanent and ample relief must come 

 by going to the underlying causes." It is a superficial 

 view which attributes the present shortage of newsprint 

 paper primarily to such factors as inadequate mill capac- 

 ity and restrictions on the export of Canadian pulpwood. 

 The fundamental cause lies deeper. In the last analysis 

 depletion of the forests, both American and Canadian, 

 from which the pulp and paper industry draws its sup- 

 ply of raw materials is the real root of its difficulties. 



A few days later, at a picnic of retail lumber dealers, 

 Senator Harding showed his appreciation of the effects 

 of timber depletion on other industries and on the nation 

 as a whole. After calling attention to the steady decrease 

 in the forest resources of the entire eastern United States 



and to the effect of high lumber prices, due in part to 

 "the very manifest diminution of supply," in halting 

 home-building, he added that "no one can be blind to the 

 fact that ... we have been drawing on our natural 

 timber supply without a thought of the future. . . . 

 But we have learned the lesson now and we have not only 

 to conserve, but we ought to have a national policy of 

 conservation and reforestation. ... I can think of 

 no forward look in relation to the good fortunes of 

 America which does not contemplate a forest policy 

 which will assure us the essentials in the lumber line for 

 all our constructive activities." 



All of this is admirably and strictly in line with his 

 formal declaration to a group of Governors on August 

 31, in favor of the conservation of all of our natural 

 resources. It is also gratifying that Senator Harding 

 does not attempt to make a political issue out of conser- 

 vation. There is no reason why this should not be one 

 subject on which both the Republican and the Demo- 

 cratic candidates are in perfect accord. Opinions may 

 differ as to details of procedure, but the need for the 

 protection and perpetuation of our forests is so clear and 

 so urgent that every forward-looking American, irre- 

 spective of party, should find himself in. agreement with 

 the essential principle of preservation through wise use. 



AN UNSOUND DOCTRINE 



/GOVERNOR PHILLIP'S interesting address at the 

 ^ Decennial Celebration of the Forest Products Labor- 

 atory on "Legislative Measures for Forest Conserva- 

 tion," contained one important recommendation with 

 which foresters and conservationists disagree. In effect 

 this was a disclaimer of any responsibility on the part 

 of the individual States to conserve their forests, on the 

 ground that forest production involves a long-term in- 

 vestment of doubtful financial return which it is un- 

 reasonable to expect the States to undertake, and that 

 forest products are not for the use alone of the State 

 in which they are grown, but of the entire nation. 



If this view were generally accepted and applied U 

 would effectually put an end not only to all State forestry 

 activities, but to all private forestry activities. For if 

 the States cannot afford to practice forestry and are 

 without responsibility in the matter, private owners are 

 still less so. The entire task is thus shifted to the 

 shoulders of the Federal Government, practically all of 

 the forestry programs now under discussion are knocked 

 in the head, and any effective attempt at the conserva- 

 tion of the great bulk of our forests, four-fifths of which 

 are in private ownership, is postponed until an indefinite 

 future. 



