THE CONFERENCE PROPER 



37 



so adjust taxes that cut-over lands can be 

 held for a second timber crop, and we must 

 recognize the fact that timber costs no less 

 to grow than to log and saw. We must con- 

 tinue and perfect, by States and Nation, the 



preservation by wise use of the forests al- 

 ready publicly owned, and we must extend 

 the same treatment to other mountain forests 

 more valuable for the permanent benefit of 

 the many than for the profit of the few. 



AT THE opening of the morning 

 session of Thursday, December 

 10, the chairman suggested that 

 the Conference direct the limiting of 

 speeches to ten minutes, which was 

 done. The chair also announced the ap- 



pointment of a special committee from 

 the Conference to attend a meeting of 

 the Senate Committee on Commerce. 

 Following this routine business, Senator 

 Reed Smoot, of Utah, chairman of the 

 Section on Forests, spoke. 



ADDRESS OF SENATOR SMOOT 



I TAKE it that we are here this morning 

 for the purpose of seriously considering 

 the vital questions affecting the conser- 

 vation and preservation of the forests of this 

 country. It is a subject greater than any 

 man, greater than any State. It is as great 

 as the Nation itself. Every man, woman and 

 child of today, and everyone yet to be born, 

 is interested in this great question. You have 

 noticed in the discussions here that there is 

 no doubt that the question of the conservation 

 and preservation of the forests has played an 

 important part, and therefore I am not going 

 to make a speech and particularly call atten- 

 tion to any of the great resources of any 

 particular State, because I take it every Gov- 

 ernor here can sing the praises of his own 

 State and speak of the wonders of its natural 

 resources ; but I will call to your particular 

 attention and emphasize, if possible, some of 

 the points that have been made in the report 

 of the Conservation commission to the Gov- 

 ernors and which will be made to the Presi- 

 dent of the United States. 



God has been lavish in placing in this land 

 of ours all that makes life worth living. No 

 country on earth has so many blessings 

 naturally given to it, and it seems to me we 

 have been, in the past, lax indeed in trying to 

 preserve them, not only for ourselves, but for 

 posterity. 



Gentlemen, you heard the report of the 

 Committee read in your presence on yester- 

 day, in which it was stated that an inventory 

 of our forest resources, the best we have ever 

 possessed, has just been completed. This in- 

 ventory is the result of the combined and 

 vigorous effort of all the State and federal 

 agencies concerned. 



The facts which flow from this great 

 accumulation of knowledge regarding our 

 forests will soon be made common knowledge, 

 as they ought to be. From these facts three 

 great conclusions spring : The first, that the 

 forest problem before the individual, the 

 State and the Nation, is grave and urgent ; 

 the second, that we can solve this problem if 

 we will act unitedly, vigorously and at once ; 

 the third, that if we fail to act, the possibility 



of a satisfactory solution will be rendered 

 doubtful or even wholly removed. The time 

 has passed for us to be content to dabble 

 with the vital internal question which the 

 right handling of our forests presents. It 

 may well be our pride that no nation has a 

 more wholesome and enthusiastic public sen- 

 timent for the right use of the forests than 

 our own. But it may well be our shame that 

 no nation takes poorer care of its private 

 forests than our own country. 



This is not the time for harsh criticism of 

 the agencies which have brought about the 

 deplorable condition of our forests. But it 

 is the time for prompt, effective and united 

 ettort to remedy this condition. The time 

 has long passed when the only need for the 

 conservation of our forests was in order that 

 we might fulfill our duty to those who came 

 after us. The time is already here when for 

 our immediate welfare the conservation of all 

 forests, in private as well as in public hands, 

 is absolutely essential. Forestry no longer 

 makes its appeal to the American people solely 

 through their sense of public duty. Its appeal 

 now rests upon a firm conviction and founda- 

 tion, not only of public duty, but of urgent 

 and imperative industrial and commercial 

 necessity. 



I wish at this time to direct your attention 

 to some of the special items of the com- 

 mission's report, so that you may each be 

 impressed with the importance of these par- 

 ticular facts. Consider the situation ! This 

 Nation began with half its area under forest. 

 Today, barely one-fourth of our country is 

 covered by forest growth. Only one-fifth of 

 the standing timber which remains is in public 

 ownership, and therefore belongs to the whole 

 people. Four-fifths of what remains is in 

 private hands. Year by year we take more 

 and more wood from our forests, and year by 

 year, by careless cutting and by fire, we lower 

 their capacity to produce again. The yearly 

 production of our forests by growth is seven 

 billion cubic feet, a volume of timber so vast 

 that the mind can scarce comprehend it; but a 

 volume of timber over three times as large is 

 taken from our forests each year. Nor is 



