274 Proceedings oe the 



Legislation, too, should be provided to restrict the 

 use of timber as much as possible for the use of our 

 own citizens. 



The waste of timber should be prevented to the 

 extent practicable by proper laws. 



And all such laws should, in order to be effective, 

 be administered by officials invested with the authority 

 of law. 



It would further appear that the large commercial 

 demands consequent upon the great growth of our 

 country, together with the immense quantities of the 

 very best grades of timber which are exported, consti- 

 tute a greater menace to our forests than the consump- 

 tion by railway companies. 



In this connection, I would like to mention a large 

 quantity of chestnut oak which is felled every spring 

 to procure bark for tanning purposes, much of which 

 is allowed to lie in the woods and rot, although rail- 

 road companies, and I presume others, would be glad 

 to get the material, sawed into merchantable lumber, 

 or have it made into ties. This constitutes a great 

 and wanton waste. We think that we are fully able 

 to verify this statement from the frequency with which 

 we have to decline ties made from timber which has 

 been felled in years other than the current year. 



In considering this timber question in any of its 

 aspects, we recognize that the study of it, together 

 with a great many other questions of like import, 

 marks a new era in the affairs of this country. 



Heretofore the American people have been wasteful, 

 and extravagant to an alarming degree, of every 

 product and everything which have been generally used 

 for the necessities and comfort of the people. Nature 

 has been prodigal in distributing natural resources 

 through our land, and for years we have been simply 



