American Forest Congress 9 



waters of the streams he uses, against floods in the 

 East and the lack of water for irrigation in the West. 

 The stockman must have fence posts, and very often 

 he must have summer range for his stock in the 

 national forest reserves. In a word, both the pro- 

 duction of the great staples upon which our prosperity- 

 depends, and their movement in commerce throughout 

 the United States, are inseparably dependent upon the 

 existence of permanent and suitable supplies from the 

 forest at a reasonable cost. 



If the present rate of forest destruction is allowed to 

 continue, with nothing to offset it, a timber famine in 

 the future is inevitable. Fire, wasteful and destructive 

 forms of lumbering, and the legitimate use, taken 

 together, are destroying our forest resources far more 

 rapidly than they are being replaced. It is difficult 

 to imagine what such a timber famine would mean to 

 our resources. And the period of recovery from the 

 injuries which a timber famine would entail would be 

 measured by the slow growth of the trees themselves. 

 Remember, that you can prevent such a timber famine 

 occurring by wise action taken in time, but once the 

 famine occurs there is no possible way of hurrying the 

 growth of the trees necessary to relieve it. You have 

 got to act in time or else the nation would have to 

 submit to prolonged suffering after it had become too 

 late for forethought to avail. Fortunately, the remedy 

 is a simple one, and your presence here to-day is a 

 most encouraging sign that there will be such fore- 

 thought. It is the great merit of the Department of 

 Agriculture in the forest work that its efforts have 

 been directed to enlist the sympathy and cooperation 

 of the users of wood, water, and grass, and to show 

 that forestry will and does pay, rather than to exhaust 

 itself in the futile attempt to introduce conservative 



