116 The Forest Products Laboratory 



Improved methods of turpentining de\'eloped by the Forest 

 Service resulted in increased yields and less in jury to timber with net 

 savings aggregating $4,000,000 per year. 



These few examples alone show combined annual increase in 

 production and decrease in waste aggregating $30,000,000. They 

 should serve to crystallize for you tlie value and im]:)ortance of indus- 

 trial research. Results, of coiu'se. cannot be obtained over night. 

 Patience is required and efforts are not always quickly crowned Avitli 

 success — but it cannot be doubted that over any reasonable period of 

 years, economies resulting from organized research so greatly exceed 

 the expense involved that there can be no question of its desirability. 



The lumber and wood-using industries represent some of the 

 greatest and most important manufacturing and industrial develop- 

 ments of the country. Of the nation's industries they rank second in 

 invested capital, first in labor employed, and second in annual value 

 of products. The Forest Products Laboratory is the only institution 

 of organized research engaged upon the problems of these industries, 

 and those problems yet imtouched and imex]dored are many and of 

 far reaching importance. What, for example, of the possibilities 

 which may result from the de\xlopment of permanently durable and 

 waterproof glues or adhesives and their application to the use of 

 material too small or of too poor a grade for other service — what of 

 their application to forest economics through the increased value thus 

 given to small second groA\i:h material? Wliat of the sul])Jiite-pulp 

 liquor problem involving the ])ossibility of utilizing the 55 per cent 

 of the wood fed into the pulp digesters and now lost in the w aste sul- 

 phite liquors? What of the problems of packing, boxing, and crating 

 of various materials and commodities for shipment and transporta- 

 tion when conservative estimates sliow a possible theoretical annual 

 saving to the country- of three hundred million dollars ( What of the 

 need for improvement and the method of treatment and handling of 

 piling and dock timbers in Avater infested with marine borers which 

 destroy the piling w^ithin 18 months after placement and cause an 

 annual replacement aggregating millions of dollars in the various 

 harbors of the nation? What of the waning supply of hardwoods and 

 the need for authentic knoM'ledge of the properties of South American 

 and other foreign woods as compared to those of our own country for 

 which they may ultimately be needed as substitutes? 



