622 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



"ALMOST EVERY PAPER THAT COMES 



HPHE continued drive of the Ameri- 

 A can Forestry Association for a 

 national forest policy and for better 

 fire protection for our forests is 

 "found^ in almost every paper that 

 comes to hand" according to the edi- 

 tor of the Burlington Hawk Eye who 

 has a fine editorial on the way the 

 newspapers are co-operating in keep- 

 ing this all-important subject before 

 the readers. Every phrase of the situ- 

 ation is being discussed by the editors 

 all of whom demand action by the 

 Government. The Literary Digest has 

 just devoted two pages to the Asso- 

 ciation's work. 



Burlington, Iowa, Hawkeye: There has 

 come, within quite recent times a notable 

 change in the attitude of the American 

 press toward the question of forestry. Not 

 so many years ago, many papers spoke 

 of forestry slightingly. They opined that 

 it was something that might be useful in 

 foreign countries, but of which there was 

 no need here. The majority ignored for- 

 estry entirely. 



Today, it is impossible to run through 

 twenty or thirty papers without finding at 

 least^one article on the subject of forestry, 

 and sometimes almost every paper that 

 comes to hand has something dealing with 

 the subject. 



Now, it would not be fair to assume that 

 this change has been wrought simply be- 

 cause paper is made of wood pulp and 

 newsprint paper is now very scarce and 

 very expensive. That may have helped, 

 but it is not the only cause, nor the princi- 

 ple cause. Not even the high price of lum- 

 ber may be assigned as the cause. 



It is rather that the men who study 

 public questions and public needs have ar- 

 rived at the conclusion that it is high time 

 that the subject was receiving some atten- 

 tion and that it was found by this time 

 that the agitation should have begun years 

 ago. For a need such as exists in the 

 country now cannot be filled in a few short 

 years. It may require a century to give 

 this country the wealth of forest which it 

 requires. 



But the mam thing, the outstanding 

 thing, the thing that guarantees results, 

 is that the press of the whole country is 

 awakening to the* fact that a crying need 

 exists. And that means that the politicians 

 who are always anxious to please the peo- 

 ple, will take up and study the problem. 

 The legislatures of the different states and 

 the National Congress may be depended 



upon to take the hint and to follow where 

 the press leads. Especially, as they will 

 soon learn that the people stand behind 

 the press in this matter. 



San Diego Union: Two measures of 

 vital importance to the future economic 

 welfare of the nation were presented for 



Boston Traveler: Mr. Charles 

 tathrop Pack, head of the American 

 Forestry Association, congratulates 

 the nation upon the fact that the 

 next President of the United States 

 will he a newspaper publisher. For 

 Mr. Pack believes,, probably with 

 reason, that the forestry needs of 

 America will^be apt to receive their 

 due share of attention from a chief 

 executive who has known what it 

 is to wonder where his next cargo 

 of newsprint was coming from. 



It is certainly true that the news- 

 paper publisher, whenever you meet 

 him, is concerned in a special degree, 

 if not over his supply of newsprint 

 fox current needs, at any rate over 

 the continuance of that supply for 

 himself and other publishers in the 

 coming years. 



To be interested in the matter of 

 pulpwood for paper making is to 

 be interested in the entire problem 

 of timber for the building and manu- 

 facturing requirements of the nation. 

 At the present rate of consumption 

 and without a policy of reforest- 

 tion, the timberlands of the United 

 States will be depleted in sixty to 

 seventy-five years. With' proper co- 

 operation of national and state gov- 

 ernments and private owners of for- 

 est areas, experts tell us, our for- 

 ests may be made to renew them- 

 selves in time to meet domestic needs 

 for many years to come. 



No wonder, then, that the people 

 who have been devoting time and 

 energy to the forestry campaign are 

 cheered by the assurance that the 

 next President will be a man with a 

 practical interest already awakened 

 in the perpetuation of the nation's 

 timber supply. 



consideration by the resolutions committee 

 of the Republican convention, both of them 

 pertaining to the conservation of our for- 

 ests. One of the propositions provides for 

 reforestation as a precaution against a 

 famine in all wood products within fifteen 

 years, and the other was in the form of a 



protest from the American Forestry As- 

 sociation against President Wilson's "pock- 

 et veto" of the water power bill. 



The two measures are virtually to the 

 same purpose. Conservation of the forests 

 is the chief factor in conservation of water 

 power. If the forests are cut away, the 

 streams will rush in floods to the sea dur- 

 ing the rain period, and go dry in the sum- 

 mer and autumn. If there is no water in 

 the streams, there will be no source of 

 water power. This is the plain logic of 

 the impending emergency. 



As to the "wood famine" predicted with- 

 in fifteen years, the statement might be 

 sustained in the {fact that there is a scar- 

 city of wood pulp for the making of print 

 paper; but this argument is somewhat 

 weakened by the allegation of expert ob- 

 servers that there is a vast quantity of 

 the timber material used for this purpose 

 still standing in the forests of the North- 

 west. However, that may be, it would still 

 be necessary 'to preserve the spruce. This 

 can be done without affecting the supply 

 to the paper mills, by scientific legislation 

 regulating the harvest and by reforestation. 

 The same policy should be pursued in 

 all other, forest legislation. Preservation 

 and conservation go hand in hand. Build- 

 ing lumber is high in price, whatever the 

 cause, and it will be much higher if it is 

 cut out indiscriminately and wastefully, as 

 is being done at present. Every mature 

 tree in a forest should be replaced as soon 

 as it is converted into marketable lumber. 

 Closely allied with the two propositions 

 mentioned is the plan proposed for forest 

 planting on unforested areas. This propo- 

 sition is particularly applicable to the needs 

 of Southern California, and should invite 

 attentive consideration by the business and 

 industrial interests of San Diego. Our 

 water power could be immeasurably in- 

 creased if the water sheds of our moun- 

 tain regions were more thickly forested, and 

 the timber line brought nearer to the valley 

 and coast region. Water power for the 

 generation of electrical energy is certain 

 to be of paramount importance to San 

 Diego industry as the oil fuel supply dim- 

 inishes. Our municipal water supply and 

 water for irrigation are also matters of 

 great concern to us, and closely related to 

 the propositions for reforestation and con 

 servation of existing forests. 



During the war we were forced to prac- 

 tice a thrift with which most of us were 

 sadly unfamiliar; since the war conditions 

 have been such that thrift is again forced 

 upon us in the universal necessity of meet- 

 ing the demands of the high cost of living. 

 Here are two lessons- which we should 

 take to heart with the resolve that the ex- 

 perience shall serve all future economic 



