70 
Trausactious of the Academy of Silence of St. Louis 
bega 
1840 
by patents, but no such tie has ever lasted as long as the present 
day creosoted wooden ties. There are literally thousands of 
patents in the United States alone, but today informed railroad 
engineers know that it is practically impossible for such a tie to 
be developed and to succeed. 
The use of treated ties has been so successful, that the aver- 
age life has been increased from only about 8 years, to about 
four times as long, and better tracks, carrying heavier and faster 
trains, with much greater safety, now only require somethmg 
under 50,000,000 ties per year. Today there is no thought of 
a tie famine. 
During this same period, beginning about 1905, there has 
been much advance in lumbering methods and in the apprecia- 
tion of good forestry practice. While there is much yet to be 
done, a great deal has been accomplished. There are many tim- 
ber operators -who are cutting on the perpetual basis and who 
consider timber a crop rather than an asset to be cashed in on 
as soon as possible. This is more particularly true in the south- 
ern pine areas of Louisiana and Arkansas. Much remains to be 
done in the w^ay of modification of tax laws, to permit such 
growing of timber to be profitable to the owner. A great deal 
of educational work is bearing fruit, but much more is needed 
before uninformed local residents of our Ozark forests voluntar- 
ily discontinue the age old practice of burning the woods. Mr. 
Kelleter and others are doing a splendid job in this almost hope- 
less task here in Missouri. We may even hope for the day when 
a local resident caught stealing timber can be convicted in a 
local court. As far as I can find out, this has never happened. 
To sum up, the cause of forest conservation has received a 
serious jolt because of the war, but the situation is not nearly 
as bad as it could have been without the advances made in the 
past third of a century. 
The use of wood in place of steel is equivalent to increasing 
steel production by whatever amount is thus saved. As Amer- 
icans first, we are glad our forests can make such a tremendous 
contribution to the all important early winning of the war, and 
we can take much comfort in the thought that, given half a 
chance, nature will regrow our timber, whereas, nature never 
replaces the coal or ores taken from our mines. We can also be 
very thankful that we have the forest conservation machinery set 
up and functioning and that the public attitude and understand- 
ing are better than ever before. 
