FIFTH NATIONAI, CONSERVATION CONGRESS 393 



done by the Pacific Coast lumbermen, has been undertaken by the timber owners 

 of the Lake States and other sections. The fire problem has been practically 

 settled. Except in years of extreme dryness, and when the conditions get beyond 

 human control, there will be no great loss from forest fires. 



As the prices of timber and forest products advance, lumbermen will conduct 

 their logging operations with more and more regard for future crops of timber. 

 Lumbermen are too intelligent a class of business men not to undertake those 

 methods which will perpetuate their supplies of raw material, and thus prolong 

 their business. The public must realize, however, that until forestry can be 

 undertaken with practical results, it cannot be considered at all, as individuals 

 cannot engage in a work of this kind at a loss to themselves, no matter how much 

 they may be prompted by sentiment or regard for future generations. 



The professional forester fully agrees with this view. Indeed it is he who is 

 doing more than the lumbermen to educate the public that no material progress 

 in forestry can be made in this country as long as the wholesale prices of timber 

 products remain where they are. Representing the lumberman, I am pleased to 

 acknowledge the great value of the reports which have been submitted to the 

 Forestry Section of this congress. They constitute what I am sure is the most 

 intelligent, exhaustive and practical review of forest economics that this country 

 has ever had, and throughout all of them the obstacles with which the lumberman 

 is faced when considering any other than existing methods in handling his business 

 are fully recognized and explained. 



The public must realize that the price of lumber must reach a point where it 

 will pay to grow trees, or forestry cannot be thought of. The lumbermen will 

 be glad to do whatever they can to afford the virgin timber a chance to repro- 

 duce itself, and that is what they are already doing to a greater extent than even 

 they, themselves, realize in their efforts to eliminate fire. The planting of a new 

 crop of trees, however, must be done by the State or the Federal government, 

 for, in no sense, is it a private enterprise. It takes too long to mature a crop of 

 timber from the seed to interest capital. The great risk, and the cost of carrying 

 such an investment make it impossible. Individuals are obliged to pay taxes in 

 some form or other, while the State is not. The State should be interested in 

 taking all measures necessary to safeguard the future, while individuals cannot be 

 expected to do more generally than take care of their own interests. 



In the holding of young timber for further growth, lumbermen feel the con- 

 stantly increasing burden of taxation. The present method of taxing timber 

 annually is a handicap, which makes the consideration of any forestry methods 

 in connection with private logging operations absolutely impossible. Many lum- 

 ber companies would be glad to hold large areas of cut-over timber land, and to 

 pay the cost of keeping out the fire were they given some relief from the annual 

 tax. No other civilized nation treats the owners of private forest land as does 

 America in this regard. Lumbermen realize that there is much land from which 

 they have taken the timber, which is more suitable for agricultural crops than for 

 trees, and these they are holding and paying the taxes on for the purpose of 

 eventually selling them for agricultural development. Land suited for farm 



