WHAT FORESTS MEAN 
13. What interest has labor in forests? 
More than a million workers and their families obtain their 
living directly from the forests—in work in the woods, in 
lumber and paper mills, and in wood-using industries. The 
forests contribute indirectly to the support of many millions 
more—for example, in the railroad and other transportation 
industries, in the construction industries, in water and power 
utilities, in retailing, in sporting goods manufacture, and in 
businesses serving tourists and recreation. Forest pay rolls 
help to support many other industries and services. 
Steady jobs in forest-supported industries can of course 
come only from steadily producing forests. ‘The history of 
lumbering in the United States has been largely a matter of 
resource liquidation—taking out the timber and moving to 
another region. Toa large extent the forest worker has been 
forced to migrate from job to job, with little opportunity to 
settle down and have a real home. 
It is to the interest of labor that our forests be managed 
for continuous production. Producing forests mean jobs, 
steady income, better opportunity for home and community 
life. Forest deterioration and destruction mean unemploy- 
ment, disrupted home life, and communities on the down 
grade. 
