A XATIOXAL LUMBER AXD FOREST POLICY. 5 



conditions there is increased ^vaste in lumbering, protection from fire 

 is less efficient, and the difficulties in the wa}^ of forest replacement 

 are intensified. Failures that occur at such times often result in a 

 transfer of lands, thereb}^ increasing the tendency to centralization 

 that may operate disadvantageously to the public in the long run. 



THE LABOR PROBLEM. 



Of far-reaching importance both to the industry and to the public 

 13 the fjroblem of labor. It is the problem that is most insistently 

 pressing, and perhaps in some aspects the most perplexing of any 

 before the industry. Some features are peculiar to the lumber in- 

 dustry, and the ultimate solution will doubtless require a program 

 especially adapted to the conditions of the forests and the sawmills. 

 Temporary adjustments will doubtless be found, but a final solution 

 will com.e, I believe, only with the placing of the lumber industry 

 on a basis of stability and permanence. 



THE PROBLEM OF WANING TIMBER SUPPLIES. 



Any serious consideration of the conditions requisite to a sound 

 lumber industry brings us face to face with the question of ravv mate- 

 rials, the husbanding and careful use of existing supplies, and the re- 

 newal of our forests after lumbering. "We have been lulled into a 

 feeling of security in recent years because we have an estimated total 

 quantity of standing timber in excess of twenty-five hundred billion 

 feet. The very situation to which I have referred of industrial in- 

 stability due to the pressure of large quantities of stumpage for pro- 

 duction adds to the impression that we have so much timber in 

 reserve that we do not need to concern ourselves about supDlies of 



X J. 



forest materials. Not onh^ the public, but many economists, have 

 been misled by statistics showing the aggregate of timber still stand- 

 ing in the country. 



Forest depletion is injurious long before the last tree is cut and 

 long before all but the last center of production is exhausted. Often- 

 times our minds are centered on total production and general mar- 

 kets, overlooking the relation of the forest and its industries to the 

 life of the regions and the communities in which they are located. 

 iWhen local resources are so depleted that industries close, the ques- 

 tion of vanishing supplies takes on a new significance. And that is 

 exactly what is happening in hundreds of communities. The forest 

 supplies are used up ; the chief industry, a sawmill, a box factory, or 

 a wood- working establishment closes. Subsidiar}- industries depend- 

 ent on the- primary undertaking have to close also. And what is 

 more, the land formerly producing the timber, if nonagricultural, is 

 left in an unproductive condition and a burden for many years on 

 the connnunity. 



