Canadian Forestry Journal, December, 1918 



1979 



The Basis of Canada's Supremacy 



"Canada's supremacy as a paper- 

 prodTcing counlry rests upon the 

 possession of lar^e areas of pulpwood 

 forests estimated, according to Gov- 

 ernment statistics to cover about 

 350,000 square miles of territory, 

 together with abundant water-powers. 

 While this snpplv of wood is by no 

 means inexhaustible — some authori- 

 ties, in fact, predicting its complete 

 exhaustion within a comparatively 



few years at the present rate of 

 consumption — it is sufTicient to insure 

 the reasonable prosperity of the 

 industry for some time to come, 

 and, with due regard to scientific 

 cutting and reafforestation for future 

 needs, which is just now beginning to 

 receive attention, it can be made 

 practically self-perpetuating. — F. J. 

 Campbell, President, Canadian Pulp 

 and Paper Association. 



Where the Forest Dollar Goes 



By the Secretary of the Canadian Forestry Association, 

 in Quebec Telegraph. 



"Last year, Ontario completely 

 over-turned its old forest protection 

 system, and now employs over 1000 

 rangers and has snent S500,000 on 

 timber guarding since March last. 

 New Brunswick last year built up 

 an enlirelv new forest service at 

 a cost of $100,000 a year. Nova 

 Scotia is now considering the ap- 

 pointment of a Provincial Forester 

 to combat timber destruction. In 

 all r arts of Canada, the public is 

 rapidlv realizing that "timber- guard- 

 ing" is j-.ist another name for steady 

 crnjJovment, thriving towns, busy 

 railwavs, a buovant Provincial treas- 

 ury, an eager home market and an 

 expanding export trade. 



Of e . ery dollar that comes out of 

 a log. foir ^larts go for wages and 

 supplies and the other part pays 

 taxes and interest on the investment. 

 The man who carelessly burns down 

 $1,000 ..orth of timber is robbing his 

 comm^.nity of $800 worth of wages 

 and merchandise mirchases. Guard- 

 ing the nation's timber from needless 

 destrrction is, therefore, simply a 

 matter of guarding the bird that lays 

 the golden eggs. 



"If ebec insists upon retaining 

 and developing its great spruce for- 

 ests d ring the next 25 years, it 

 will hold the trump card in bidding 

 for new industries. New wood us- 

 ing factories must locate near the 



source of supplies. They cannot 

 do otherwise and survive competition. 

 The horoscope of Quebec province, 

 therefore, shows up the standing for- 

 ests as the great magnets to new 

 population and new wealth. 



Some other provinces may boast 

 gold, silver and copper mines of 

 spectacular richness, but they en- 

 dure only a brief time and once 

 used up can never be replenished. 

 A few forests of Quebec spruce are 

 to be valued vastly more than silver 

 fields, inasmuch as forests produce 

 immediate wealth and can be so 

 handled as to yield repeated har- 

 vests of preciou timber for all time 

 to come. 



"We often encounter the notion 

 that the limit holder and the farmer 

 are necessarily antagonistic in aim. 

 This is foolishly untrue. The lum- 

 ber or pulp mill use a tree crop 

 gathered from land mostly unfit 

 for farming. Nobody wants timber 

 retained on good agriculturjM soils. 

 All that any reasonable Canadian 

 suggests, is that every acre should 

 produce some form of wealth. Those 

 acres of no value for agriculture are 

 usually of supreme value for growing 

 timber. Has any farmer a real quar- 

 rel with the idea of retaining timber 

 crops where plow crops cannot pros- 

 per? That is "forest conservation" 

 in a nutshell." 



