EDITORIAL DIGEST 



743 



BELOW THE MARGIN OF NATIONAL SECURITY" 



demands that these resources be unlocked 

 and utilized. In the May number of its 

 official magazine it points out that at the 

 lowest estimate this area would pasture 

 10,850,000 head of cattle, or nearly one- 

 sixth of the total number now in the 

 United States. "At the same time." it adds, 

 "three-fifths of these idle lands could be 

 made to grow timber at the rate of 10,000 

 board feet per acre at the end of a timber 

 rotation of fifty years, provided lumber 

 be desired instead of pulpwood." As the 

 first practical step the Association recom- 

 mends a forest and soil survey in order that 

 no time or means be wasted on efforts ill 

 adapted to local conditions. "The second 

 step would be for the government to 

 broaden the Farm Loan Act so that finan- 

 cial assistance could be extended to the 

 men engaged in converting a waste area 

 into fields and forests that would produce 

 food and shelter for one-sixth of the en- 

 tire population of the United States." 



These suggestions, be it observed, are 

 not from imaginative "promoters," but 

 from scientific students whose sole inter- 

 est in the matter is the common country's 

 well-being. Nor can anyone doubt the 

 wisdom of their counsel if he will look into 

 the facts of the nation's forestry problem 

 and food-animal shortage, and then glance 

 at the vast possibilities in the South's cut- 

 over lands. The critically high prices of 

 lumber, print paper and most other prod- 

 ucts derived from wood are evidence 

 enough that unless something is done to 

 replenish America's sorely depleted forest 

 resources, conditions ere long will become 

 desperate. Likewise the prices of meat, of 

 dairy products, of leather and of goods 

 manufactured therefrom are evidence 

 enough that the utmost effort should be 

 made to increase the production of these 

 necessaries. In the cutover lands of Geor- 

 gia and other Southern States lie the most 

 readily available means of meeting these 

 needs a fact of almost immeasurable im- 

 port. 



Peoria Journal: In view of the soaring 

 lumber prices and the unprecedented short- 

 age of print paper, figures compiled by the 

 American Forestry Association are inter- 

 esting as emphasizing the rapidity with 

 which our forests are disappearing. The 

 investigation reveals that the New Eng- 

 land States are no longer self-support- 

 ing in a lumber way, but Lake States, once 

 the greatest producers of lumber, are now 

 importing to keep alive the many wood 

 using industries in that section and that 

 the center of the lumber industry is rapidly 

 moving to the Pacific coast. This, of 

 course, means long hauls and high freight 

 rates. The supply of yellow pine in the 



south will be exhausted, at the present 

 rate of consumption, in about fifteen years. 

 A feature of the war was Germany's de- 

 struction of French national forests which 

 had stood for hundreds of years and in 

 which no cutting had been allowed except 

 by official permit. The needless loss roused 

 the anger of Americans in France, and yet 

 the area burned out in this country an- 

 nually by forest fires far exceeds the de- 

 struction wrought overseas. The annual 



tute for wood pulp in the manufacture -of 

 paper, more trees will be needed to con- 

 serve some of the rainfall now drained off 

 too rapidly. Muncie (Ind.) Star. 



FINE CO-OPERATION 



An example of fine co-operation 

 with the American Forestry Associa- 

 tion is the following by P. J. V. 

 M'Kian, in the Insurance News De- 

 partment of the Chicago Herald Ex- 

 aminer: 



The National Fire Protection Asso- 

 ciation is circulating a leaflet issued 

 by the American Forestry Associa- 

 tion on "Facts about Our Disappear- 

 ing Forests," in which it is pointed 

 out that fire destroys over $20,000,000 

 worth of timber every year and kills 

 the reproduction upon thousands of 

 acres of forest lands. 



Attention is called to the fact that 

 a single fire among young trees may 

 not always kill them, but that it 

 will check their growth and weaken 

 them so far that they will be very 

 susceptible to insect attacks and fun- 

 gus diseases. 



Plans have been worked out which 

 aim to prevent forest fires from gain- 

 ing headway, which is accomplished 

 by means of patrols stationed along 

 carefully laid out routes. During the 

 last two years airplanes have supple- 

 mented the watchfulness of men on 

 horseback, and this system has been 

 extended to all the large areas of 

 wooded land in the Pacific Coast 

 States. Telephone and tool stations 

 have also been established and oper- 

 ated in connection with lookout sta- 

 tions and broad fire lines, on which 

 the accumulated debris has been 

 burned. 



Worcester Post: Charles Lathrop Pack, 

 president of the American Forestry Asso- 

 ciation, calls our forests the backbone of 

 all industry and cites some figures to 

 prove it. Take a look at these facts and 

 then indorse the Association's move to have 

 Forest Preservation week multiplied by 52. 



Ten years ago the United States pro- 

 duced its entire supply of pulp wood, but 

 now two-thirds of it is imported. This 

 means freight rates to be added to the 

 purchase price. 



Indications are that supplies of pulp 

 wood timber in New England and New 

 York will be exhausted in 10 to 20 years. 



Ten years ago the United States pro- 

 duced its entire news print supply now 

 we import two-thirds of it. 



Do you wonder that newspapers are fight- 

 ing for their lives ? Do you wonder what 

 makes the cost of building a home so high? 



Experts predict saw-log lumber will be 

 gone in 50 years. 



The bulk of the original supplies of yel- 

 low pine in the south will be gone in 10 

 years, and within seven years 3000 manu- 

 facturing plants there will go out of ex- 

 istence. 



White pine in the Lake States is nearing 

 exhaustion, and these States are paying 

 $6,000,000 a year in freight bills to import 

 timber. 



New England, self-supporting in lumber 

 20 years ago, now has to import one-third 

 of the amount used. 



Fire destroys over $20,000,000 worth of 

 timber every year and kills the reproduc- 

 tion upon thousands of acres of forest lands. 



timber loss in the United States is approxi- 

 mately $28,000,000, and yet the nation mani- 

 fests only passing interest in the efforts 

 of the Federal and State Governments to 

 prevent this appalling waste. 



It is high time that all land owners 

 should give heed to the rapid disappearance 

 of forest trees and should do their part in 

 however small a way to offset the scar- 

 city of timber. There are few farms 

 without some corner, ravine or untillable 

 ground where crops cannot be raised that 

 is suitable for trees. It is true that no early 

 return would be realized on the investment 

 of time and labor, but a concerted move- 

 ment would do much to replace the timber 

 that once covered such a large portion of 

 our land. Even if science finds a substi- 



Trenton Advertiser: Depletion of the 

 forests of the United States within 65 to 

 75 years with a resultant slump in all en- 

 terprise that depends wholly, or in part, 

 on timber products can be averted if ac- 

 tion is taken without further delay. This 

 is the declaration of an authority on the 

 subject the American Forestry Associa- 

 tion of Washington, D. C. Unless immedi- 

 ate forestry steps are taken and taken in 

 considerable magnitude a serious situation 

 will confront future generations. In fact, 

 many boys and girls of today and some 

 mature persons as well will live to see a 

 time of embarrassment and distress unless 

 radical moves are made to replace the 

 trees that are now going so rapidly into 

 the maw of manufacturing, the appetite 

 of which grows with consumption and be- 

 comes all the more menacing as the sup- 

 ply decreases. 



