A Decennial Record 125 



the present time — not alone those of America, but of the whole world 

 as it strives to get back to normal industry. It is an old and simple 

 axiom : Aside from the will to work wliich is the foremost quality of 

 any strong nation, its economic and social progress depends in the iong 

 run upon the foresight and efficiencj^ with wliich its natural resources 

 are used. 



This is simply an attempt to restate, crudely and partially, tlie 

 conception of national conservation M'liicli was embodied in our pubhc 

 thought and policies by President Roosevelt fifteen years ago. It is 

 the viewpoint of the pubhc welware in the long run Avhich two great 

 leaders, President Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot, brought to bear 

 upon our forest resources, our national M^ater powers, and our national 

 deposits of coal and oil. The Forest Products Laboratory at Madi- 

 son, which now completes its first decade, stands as a visible and prac- 

 tical expression of the thought of these leaders in the field of forest 

 conser\-ation. To make the most of our forest resources Mr. Pinchot 

 and his associates foresaw that knowledge of the use of wood must 

 progress hand in hand with the national movement to assure a sufficient 

 supply of this essential raw material. Each had an integral part in 

 forest conservation. It was not enough to create National Forests in 

 wJiich the Federal Government might embark in tlie business of timber 

 production and to assist the private owner in keeping liis woodlands 

 productive. It was equally necessary to build up a practical science 

 of wood use, — to determine how to get the right stick into the right 

 place where its strength or durabihty would count for the most ; how 

 to make one railroad tie do the work of two or three, by prolong- 

 ing its life and service; how to utilize tlie enormous quantities of waste 

 material in our forests and sawmills; how to reduce manufacturing 

 losses and better the methods of employing wood in the infinite number 

 of American industries which require it, from the paper mill to the 

 automobile factory ; and what fresh supplies of wood could be found 

 for this or that industry as old sources of raw material were exhausted. 

 The Forest Products Faboratory M-as built by men who saw that to 

 answer these questions and others like them was as necessary as to 

 stop forest fires; that the wood technician in the factory must supple- 

 ment the woodsman in the forest. And they not only built the Lab- 

 oratory as an efficient unit of itself; they built it into and made it part 

 of one of the most virile and far-sighted movements toward using nat- 



