338 REPORT OF THE FORESTRY COMMITTEE 



and otherwise die and go to waste. The remains of these forests are exhibited 

 by some as the horrible example of the wilful waste of the lumberman. Was 

 it the waste of the lumberman or the waste of the consumer ? Just one more 

 question: Was it waste? No doubt it would be waste now, but was it 

 waste then? 



"So much has been said and written by the thoughtless, the ignorant and 

 the malicious about the awful, criminal waste of the lumberman, that by 

 many he is looked upon as a kind of goblin or monster that goes about leaving 

 waste and devastation in his wake. Devastation he may have made, but it 

 was a tearing down in one place to build better in another. You cannot have 

 your cake and eat it, too. You cannot improve the prairie countries without 

 drawing from the forests to do so. You cannot have the agricultural lands 

 where the forest grew without cutting down the forests. While many have 

 been taught to think otherwise, you cannot help conceding that the lumber- 

 man is, after all, just human like the rest of us. Pie is just as honest, earnest, 

 has the same hope for the hereafter, and abhors waste just the same as the 

 man in any other business. Laying aside unfounded, unreasonable prejudice, 

 can you think of any reason why a lumberman should knowingly and wilfully 

 waste his resources ? As a matter of fact, do you not know that he is inclined 

 to practice conservation and economy the same as men of other enterprises? 

 In the operation of his lumber manufacturing business he has always taken 

 from the forest just so much of the timber as gave promise of a reasonable 

 profit. You could not have expected more of him in the past, and you should 

 not expect more of him in the future. 



"This same element of waste, or lack- of conservation, runs through 

 nearly all lines of production or manufacture. Go into the fields of the 

 farmers in the potato-producing States when they are harvesting the crop 

 and note the hundreds and thousands of bushels of small potatoes they leave 

 on the ground to rot and waste. Ask the farmer why he does not save them, 

 and he will tell you because he cannot sell them, and this, to him, seems to 

 be a perfectly good reason. Ask the dealer why he will not buy them, and 

 he will give the same reason, because he cannot sell them. Ask the grocer 

 the same question, and get the same answer. When you have traced it all 

 the way back you will find that small potatoes do not meet the favor of the 

 consumer. They are perfectly good potatoes, but the consumer prefers larger 

 potatoes and rejects the small ones. If the consumer, the man who has the 

 final say, rejects them, what is to be done but let them go to waste? This is 

 not conservation, but who can change it except the consumer ? The lumber- 

 man has his 'small potatoes' just the same as the farmer and makes just as 

 earnest an effort to save them. 



"After all is said and done, this matter of conservation is verv largely 

 up to the consumer. Not only the conservation of forest products, but of all 

 our natural resources. Make it profitable, pay a price that wi'll warrant 

 domg so, and you will find the lumberman utilizing all of the trees of the 

 forest instead of one-third, one-half, or two-thirds of them Forest con- 

 servation of Germany is frequently compared with that of the United States 

 Pay a like price for the products of the forest here, and you will find the 

 same degree of conservation. To have a greater degree of forest conserva- 

 tion, and build for the welfare of the future, less lumber must be produced 

 a greater proportion of it be utilized, and a higher price paid for it Does 

 the general public, the ultimate consumer, want forest conservation badlv 

 enough to use a lower grade of lumber at a higher price? If so, he can have 

 conservation m just that degree that he is willing to pay for and can have it 

 just as soon as he begins to pay. 



■ ,."°°"'* '°f ''^\^ °n ^t ^''''^ ^l"^^ ^" over-supply of low-priced lumber 

 IS the cause of nearly all the so-called waste of forest products." 



