COX FOR A FOREST POLICY 



K STATEMENT BY GOVERNOR JAMES M. COX OF OHIO, DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT, ON HIE 

 NEED OF A NATIONAL FOREST POLICY FOR THE PERPETUATION OF OUR FOREST RESOURCES 



^rilHE proclamation by President Wilson of Fire 

 Prevention Day, October 9, brought before the 

 country, in a striking way, the necessity of con- 

 serving the nation's resources, which is one of the great- 

 est internal questions of the country. Millions of dollars 

 are invested in business dependent on forest products. 

 Our forest fire bill is $30,000,000 annually. The mount- 

 ing cost of print paper and lumber is enormous. 



"The report of the Forest Service, in response to the 

 Senate resolution calling for information on forest deple- 

 tion, discloses facts that must bring to every one a 

 realizing sense of the great importance and necessity for 

 conserving our forest resources. There are now in the 

 United States, this report shows, 81,000,000 acres of 

 waste forest land, devastated by cutting and by fires. 

 Nothing of value is growing on these lands, or likely to 

 grow without a huge expenditure for reforestation. Be- 

 sides this we have an area of comparatively unproductive 

 second-growth forest three times as great as the waste 

 land area. Each year we cut off 5,500,000 acres and burn 

 on the average no less than 9,400,000 acres. 



"And the destruction proceeds. Of the vast primeval 

 forest that constituted so considerable a part of the great 

 natural wealth of our country, only two-fifths remain, 

 and this remainder is being consumed four times faster 

 than it is being replaced. 



"The conservation of our timber resources involves 

 the two-fold consideration of replacement and protection. 

 We have been neglectful in both respects. 



"There are 315,000,000 acres of state and privately 

 owned forest lands in the United States, in the protection 

 of which the Government should co-operate. Half of this 

 vast area at present is wholly without protection, accord- 

 ing to estimates of the American Forestry Association, 



and the other half is protected but inadequately. If these 

 lands are to be kept productive, there must be greater and 

 more efficient efforts by the Federal Government, the states 

 and private owners in the direction of fire protection. 



"Many industries have been unable to obtain their 

 supplies of timber at any price. In other industries the 

 output has been reduced by as much as fifty per cent. 

 Anything that adversely affects the lumber and wood- 

 using industries of the country naturally reacts to the dis- 

 advantage of consumers. The Lake States, once the 

 center of the lumber industry, now pay millions of dol- 

 lars in freight rates on lumber to keep their wood-using 

 industries going, and the center of the lumber industry 

 is moving toward the Pacific Coast. 



"The movement upward of wholesale prices on upper 

 grades of soft wood lumber in one state through a period 

 of years is illustrative of what confronts other states as a 

 consequence of a neglectful policy of conservation. In 

 New York these prices were from $20 to $25 per 1,000 

 feet prior to 1865, when mills in the state supplied the 

 market; between 1865 and 1917, when most of the sup- 

 ply came from the Lake States and the South, the price 

 had advanced to from $35 to $45, These prices are now 

 entering a general level of $130 per 1,000 feet, with a 

 large part of the material coming from the Pacific Coast. 



"Seventy-five per cent of the difficulties confronting us 

 in the task of keeping our forest lands productive will be 

 overcome by adequate fire protection of our forest lands. 

 The necessity of fire protection, not alone for the manu- 

 factured products but -for the source of the raw materials 

 of these products,can hardly be overemphasized and should 

 be kept always prominently before the nation. Action is 

 requisite to the solution of conservation problems and 

 it is one of the things I will strive for early if elected." 



BRITAIN PLANTS AMERICAN TREE SEED 



A DVICES received from British forestry officials re- 



i\ 



garding the distribution of the forest tree seed which 



was presented to England last year by the American 

 Forestry Association show that the seeds nave T)een 

 sown in nurseries managed by the English Forestry 

 Commission. One hundred and sixty pounds, or almost 

 all of the Douglas fir seed sent to England, was sent to 

 Ireland, where the climate seems to be particularly favor- 



able to its growth. When the young trees have attained 

 sufficient size, they will be planted out in the forests 

 which the Commissioners are establishing in various 

 parts of the United Kingdom. The Secretary of tne 

 Commission writes of their appreciation and says: 

 "They will be of real assistance in helping to increase 

 our timber resources, which were so greatly depleted for 

 war purposes." 



PORTUGESE APPRECIATION OF TREES 



In many places where timber trees are to be found in 

 Portugal, one sees the following inscription* in woods, 

 parks and gardens: 



To The Wayfarer. 



Ye who pass by and would raise your hand against 

 me, hearken ere you harm me. 



I am the heat of your hearth on the cold winter nights, 

 the friendly shade screening you from the summer sun, 



8M 



and my fruits are refreshing draughts quenching your 

 thirst as you journey on. 



I am the beam that holds your house, the board of 

 your table, the bed on which you lie, and the timber that 

 builds your boat. 



I am the handle of your hoe, the door of your home- 

 stead, the wood of your cradle, and the shell of your coffin. 



I am the bread of kindness and the flower of beauty. 



Ye who pass by, listen to my prayer: harm me not. 



