The American Forest Congress. 79 



methods of the elements, and especially the economic element, 

 involved in forest management and consequently a more sym- 

 pathetic attitude toward the lumberman. And, second, the in- 

 creased value of forest products and timber stumpage, impressing 

 upon the lumbermen that all the value of his timber holding does 

 not rest in the' present, but that it is to his advantage to take mea- 

 sures to preserve and perpetuate the forest. The lumbermen are 

 therefore desirous of obtaining all possible information which will 

 assist them in attaining this end, and are prepared to receive light 

 from foresters or from any other source. The supply of hard- 

 woods for manufacturing purposes is also giving the manufac- 

 turing establishments concern and they too added their voice in 

 urging consideration of the future resources. 



The Railway Companies had the floor on Thursday morning 

 under the Chairmanship of Mr. Howard Elliott, President of the 

 Northern Pacific Railway Company, and three of the papers were 

 by representatives of other railway companies. The railways use 

 large quantities of timber in connection with the equipment of 

 their lines, their total annual consumption for the United States 

 being probably three billion feet, which would mean the denud- 

 ing of about one million acres or the annual product of fifty mill- 

 ion acres. Ninety million ties are required annually. The rail- 

 ways see the sources of supply steadily diminishing, while the prices 

 and their requirements are as steadily increasing. They there- 

 fore ask the question : How can the demand be met ? The Penn- 

 sylvania Railroad has made an attempt to answer it by planting 

 trees along their right of way and other lands held by them. The 

 situation may also be helped by preservative treatment to increase 

 the life of the timbers used. This may mean a doubling or quad- 

 rupling of the period of use of a tie, wliile the addition to the 

 cost is small. A red oak tie lasting five years and costing forty 

 cents, may be treated at a cost of sixteen cents, so as to double 

 its life and make it equal to a white oak tie, costing, untreated, 

 eighty-five cents. Experimental work in this line is being done 

 by the Bureau of Forestry. 



In addition, the Relation of Forestry to Mining was consid- 

 ered, and thus the practical and business aspects of forestry and 

 its relation to other great industries were discussed and empha- 



