Looking Ahead 



IN presenting this book to the public the pubhshers are inspired 

 by a desire to make permanent record of the fund of informa- 

 tion embraced in the addresses of a number of prominent 

 men who gathered in New Orleans April 11, 12 and 13, 1917, to 

 participate in the "Cut-Over Land Conference of the South." 

 This meeting was caJled for the purpose of discussing the ques- 

 tion of best present and future beneficial use for stock raising, 

 agriculture and reforestation to which there might be placed 

 millions of acres now lying idle throughout a large part of the 

 South, and was attended by many land owners, agricultural 

 experts of the Federal and State governments, and others. 



It is also desired that the volume serve as the record of the 

 first definite steps taken in a work which is expected to become 

 the greatest constructive development movement ever under- 

 taken in the United States. 



Lumber manufacturers, who own much of the cut-over lands, 

 are looking forward to the day when their mill operations will be 

 curtailed by the diminution of the virgin pine forests. Mean- 

 while, they wish to take steps to convert into practical service 

 for the benefit of themselves and the public the vast empire of 

 territory now largely unproductive. The Southern Cut-Over 

 Land Association is an organization which has grown out of 

 the Cut-Over Land Conference, held under the joint auspices 

 of the Southern Pine Association and Association of Commerce 

 of New Orleans and the Southern Settlement and Development 

 Organization, of Baltimore, Md., and has now actively entered 

 on the task of consummating this great undertaking. 



SOUTHERN CUT-OVER LAND ASSOCIATION, 



