lamentably deficient, constituting one of the big railway reconstruction 

 problems; such as shoes, the leather of which must have its tanbark; 

 such as newspapers, for they must have their^pulpwfJod, growing on 

 the stump it is there that began the printed page which conveys to 

 you at this moment the fundamental facts having to do with the fire 

 menace on forest lands. 



FIRE IS PERIL. 



Something of the real importance of the forest industry which for- 

 ward-looking men are trying to save_and replenish, it is hoped, is be- 

 ginning to dawn on the minds of persons who are too busy with imme- 

 diate affairs to go back, and back, and back to the sources of things. 



Control of fire in the woods and in the slashings, which are the 

 stump lands strewn with the tops and branches of trees left by the 

 lumbermen, would mean not only valuable property saved but prop- 

 erty created. Just merely mitigating the fire evil would do much. 

 What it would mean to many important industries and sources of the 

 supply in the daily life of the citizen will be more fully indicated later, 

 but take one qf them which, naturally, the investigator into these 

 things especially well remembers. Take pulpwood and the paper 

 supply. 



"If you will keep the fires out of the Michigan north woods for 10 

 years," Prof. Roth remarked during a conversation, "there will be 

 5,000,000 cords of wood pulp in those woods not existing today, and 

 5,000,000 cords of wood pulp is equal to the entire amount of wood 

 pulp used in the United States in one year." 



USES FOR PULP. 



And newspaper use is not the only use for wood pulp. Pulp goes 

 into paper mache, strawboard, wrapping paper, bo.ok paper and many 

 other things. Mr. Roth, by his fire prevention program, would, in 

 a sense, supply all these industries from the depleted Michigan forest 

 lands alone. 



On a large part of 15,000,000 acres of cut-over land lying idle in 

 this state, he pointed out, there is more or less of a second growth, 

 self-sown or self-sprouted, which will keep growing provided the fires 

 do not destroy it. He includes 5,000,000 acres more than we have 

 been dealing with; for there are cut-over lands in Michigan not rightly 

 to be included in the 10,000,000 acres of bankrupt or near-bankrupt 

 lands. If only 10,000,000 acres were to be converted into a real forest, 

 however that is, by planting where planting is needed, filling in the 

 gaps left by voluntary seeding these 10,000,000 acres would produce 

 yearly the 5,000,000 cords of wood pulp needed, Mr. Roth added. 

 Evidently he would include some hardwood lands of the Upper 

 Peninsula, where there is much of his 15,000,000 acres of cut-overs. 

 Much of this better cut-over land about the state is first-class grazing 

 ground. At that, it will be learned that dealing with OUR lands, the 

 public domain, approximating results could be accomplished. 



SPARK CREATES HAVOC. 



The statistician's figures are interpreted as being somewhat larger 

 than realizable in practice. Absolute control of forest fires "keeping 

 them out" is not expected by foresters or anybody else. Nowhere 

 in the world where forests grow, probably, is that possible. Relative 

 control is possible, and is accomplished in places, such as parts of 

 the United States Government forest reserves and the municipal and 

 state-owned forests in European countries. Fires in the woods and 



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