218 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Southern 

 Forests as a 

 Wealth 

 Producer 



France's Arti- 

 ficially- 

 Developed 

 Turpentine 

 Industry 



And yet we are told that nowhere in the United States can 

 the naval stores industry or the production of hardwood timber 

 be carried on with the same natural and economic advantages 

 as in the South. Mr. Graves says further that Southern pine is 

 the principal softwood used in fully two-thirds of the country 

 east of the 100th meridian, or that portion comprising 70 per 

 cent of the country's population. Backed by a supply of some 

 325 billion feet of yellow pine and about 20,000 sawmills, the 

 pine industry holds today a commanding place in th§ nation's 

 lumber market. 



The existence of this vast storehouse of lumber has played 

 a great part in the development of the South and has been the 

 source of a great deal of wealth. Today the forest industry 

 stands first in no less than six Southern states, second in an- 

 other four, and third in another three. A half billion dollars is 

 invested in this great industry ; more than 400,000 people are 

 employed in it ; 20,000 sawmills and other manufacturing estab- 

 lishments are supported by this great industry. The forest in- 

 dustry draws upon a resource occupying now more than half 

 the total land area of the South. By their very magnitude the 

 forest problems of the South command attention. Their local 

 importance, looking to the future, is so great that no considera- 

 tion of the welfare of the South can afford to omit them. 



With this authoritative view of the situation, so well and so 

 forcefully stated, may we not pause in our deliberations and con- 

 sider further these forests and their place in the economic de- 

 velopment of this vast region. 



Up to date the turpentine industry, a by-product of the for- 

 est, has had the advantage of a great natural forest, richly en- 

 dowed with species capable of yielding an abundant supply of 

 turpentine and rosin. The diligence of man has neither founded 

 nor preserved the virgin supply. On the contrary, its destruc- 

 tion will be brought about by men unless steps are taken to 

 prevent it. 



There are but two great centers of turpentine supply, viz. : 

 Southern France and the Southern United States. In France it 

 is a "man-made" industry. We are- told that "out of shifting, 

 barren sand dunes and a malarial, poverty-stricken region" the 

 French government, through reclamation and the planting of 

 maritime pines, has made one of the most prosperous and salu- 



