may undermine the welfare of whole communities. It 

 may deprive us of material that may later be essential 

 for national defense and security (our armed forces use 

 a greater tonnage of forest products than of steels) . It 

 is to the public interest therefore that our forest lands, 

 regardless of ownership, be properly handled. 



The forest-regulation measures that have been recom- 

 mended would not restrict any forest land owner from 

 cutting when or as fast as he wanted to, nor would they 

 require him to cut if he did not want to. They deal only 

 with preventing forest destruction and deterioration and 

 keeping the land reasonably productive, — matters of 

 great public concern. They would simply provide that 

 if the owner did cut, he must cut according to the rules. 

 Certain "rules of the game" are necessary in any enter- 

 prise. Private timber cutting, however, has so far 

 lacked adequate rules. 



17. Can forest work contribute to postwar 

 employment? 



If the program suggested in question 15 were in ef- 

 fect, aside from furnishing more security for present 

 forest industries and the millions of dependent workers, 

 it would ultimately develop the possibilities for hun- 

 dreds of thousands of permanent new jobs based upon 

 an increasingly productive natural resource. 



Meanwhile, the forests offer large opportunities for 

 employment for many thousands of those who will come 

 out of our armed forces and war industries, pending the 

 time they can get other work and permanent jobs. A 

 vast amount of work is needed to restore depleted forest 

 areas to productivity and to improve and expand the 

 facilities for forest protection and management. Meas- 

 ures to improve timber growth, development of forest 

 research and administrative facilities, and new forest 

 recreation facilities are desirable. Public work along 

 these lines would help to make the one-third of our Na- 

 tion which is forest land supply a continuous abundance 

 of products and services for the welfare of our citizens. 



22 



U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1945 



