SENATOR HARDING ON FORESTRY 



607 



It is important though for owners to realize present con- 

 ditions in regard to their chestnut growth and make 

 their plans accordingly. 



On a brief inspection trip in North Carolina in July, 

 1920, advance infections of the chestnut blight were 

 found in the following counties : Stokes, Surry, Yadkin, 



Wilkes, Ashe, Watauga, and Avery. The disease is 

 rapidly spreading southward along the Blue Ridge Moun- 

 tains. An infection in Linville Gap, North Carolina, is 

 at an altitude of 4,000 feet. The blight is probably now 

 present in Tennessee, as it has been found in three coun- 

 ties in North Carolina, which border on Tennessee. 



SENATOR HARDING ON FORESTRY 



EXTRACT FROM ADDRESS TOiEDITORS BY SENATOR HARDING, REPUBLICAN NOMINEE FOR PRESIDENT, 



AT MARION, OHIO, AUGUST 13, 1920: 



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PERMANENT and ample relief must come by 

 going to the underlying causes. No forest con- 

 sumption like ours can go on indefinitely without 

 imperilling our pulpwood supply. Competent authority 

 tells us that the pulpwood in New York State will be 

 exhausted in ten years ; that New England will be denuded 

 of its supply in twenty years. Our needs are so vast that 

 we imported nearly one and a half million tons of pulp- 

 wood from Canada in 1918, and the Canadian price 

 advanced from ten to twenty-five dollars per cord. It 

 is obvious that we must have a forest policy which shall 

 make us self-reliant once more. We ought to be looking 

 ahead to produce our timber for our pulpwood needs 

 and also our timber for our lumber needs. Forest con- 

 servation is a necessary accomplishment to printing ex- 

 pansion, and a matter of common concern to all the 

 people. 



"Three-fifths of the original timber in this country is 

 gone, and there are eighty million idle acres in which we 

 ought to be growing forests for the future. Planning 

 for the future, with added protection of our present 

 forests from fire is a matter of deep concern to publishers 

 in particular, but all of constructive America as well." 



Extract from Senator Harding's speech to lumbermen 

 at Marion, Ohio, August 18: 



"The realization of our highest hopes lies in the con- 

 tinental construction and improved character of our 

 homes," Senator Harding continued, "because they have 

 the first influence in the standard of American living. 

 Quite apart from furnishings and the almost limitless 

 numbers of varied utilities, lumber is the first requirement 

 of the prospective home builder. 



"At the present time there is a notable halting in the 

 construction of homes because of the almosfprohibitive 



cost. Lumber plays its very conspicuous part therein. 

 Much of this, of course, relates to the increased cost of 

 production, which dates from the changed conditions 

 since our entrance into the World War, but there is a 

 permanent inclination to advance the cost because of 

 the very manifest diminution of supply. 



"We ought to have a national policy of preservation 

 and reforestation. No one disputes that lumber prices 

 are in large part responsible for the halting in the housing 

 building movement. Lumber prices have increased very 

 sharply since the war and prices in many instances have 

 gone up 300 per cent above those of the pre-war period. 



"The one thing which the government may do is to 

 adopt that policy which will assure to future generations 

 the timber^ which is necessary to our lumber needs. 

 There remains a large supply on the Pacific Coast, but 

 the problem of transportation makes this supply unavail- 

 able to the East and Middle West, unless we contemplate 

 a cost of transportation which will continue to discourage 

 building enterprise. 



"It is a common knowledge that there is ample land 

 in this country of ours, not adapted to other uses, to pro- 

 duce a sufficient supply of timber for all our needs if it 

 is only stocked with trees and nature is allowed to con- 

 tribute toward our necessities. We must begin to think 

 of timber crops as we do other cultivation in this land 

 of oprs, and we must put an end to that carelessness and 

 neglect to which we trace our destructive forest fires. 



"With timber growing on the one hand, and forest 

 preservation and protection on the other hand, there isn't 

 any reason why the United States should not be self- 

 reliant in the great essential of lumber for construction 

 purposes." 



AUTUMNAL WOODS 



When summer voices cease amidst the trees 

 And all is hushed except a whisp'ring breeze, 

 The Woods of Autumn don, anear and far, 

 A gorgeous raiment and regalia. 



In silent splendor, 'neath unclouded skies, 

 Each woodland like a vivid painting lies 

 Resplendent in the sun, each hillside seems 

 Like visions we behold in realm of dreams. 



In russet and in gold! Half -fresh, half -sear, 

 Fall's foliage is shining far and near, 

 Yet here and there some pine trees, ever green, 

 Subdue the splendor of a sylvan scene. 



Autumnal Woods! Which fade ere Frpst's fine pen 

 Draws frozen frets on window-panes again. 



Charles Nevers Holmes. 



