to be best. States with good standards of practice 
would be under continual pressure to lower them 
if competitive States observed lower ones. 
Federal leadership and participation are needed 
to assure satisfactory regulation, Nation-wide. This 
was recognized as long ago as 1920, when the first 
Federal bill for forest regulation was introduced 
in the Congress. Several regulatory bills have been 
introduced in Congresses during recent years; none 
has been enacted. Some have proposed outright 
Federal regulation. One would give the States 
reasonable opportunity to enact, and with Federal 
financial assistance administer, regulatory laws con- 
sistent with basic Federal standards; and would 
provide for Federal administration under the Fed- 
eral law in States which after a reasonable time 
failed to do so. 
Key Issues Related to Ownership 
This discussion has focused on some of the dif- 
ficulties confronting forest owners—private and 
public—and has also shown that, on every hand, 
the outcome in forestry is bound up with getting 
stable, purposeful ownership of forest land. In- 
deed, it also points up three fundamental and in- 
terrelated problems which, in large measure, high- 
light the job to be done in bettering our forest 
situation: 
1. How to achieve good forestry under private 
ownership. 
2. How to protect the public interest in poor- 
Forests and National Prosperity 
chance forests that are not readily susceptible of 
good management under private ownership. 
3. How to equip public forests so that they may 
contribute more, as they must, to our national 
supply of timber and other forest products and to 
other services. 
Clearly, much remains to be done in formulating 
and implementing national policies with respect 
to the public’s stake and responsibilities in private 
forestry; in providing effective protection against 
fire and other hazards; in making readily available 
the technical know-how and essential on-the-ground 
management services; in helping private owners 
to overcome the handicaps of small-scale operation, 
unfamiliarity with technical forestry methods, and 
difficulty in financing forest enterprises; and in 
strengthening and enlarging public forests. 
These are the issues to be met. For the Nation 
needs productive forests. Timber is a basic and 
indispensable natural resource—an important part 
of America’s great industrial strength. But our 
timber supply is running dangerously low. We 
are overdrawing our forest bank account and new 
growth is falling far short of prospective require- 
ments. A much stronger program of forestry is 
needed to assure timber for the future and to care 
for the expanding needs of watershed protection, 
forest recreation, and other forest uses. If the 
United States is to maintain a place of economic 
leadership in the world of tomorrow, it can ill af- 
ford to temporize with its forests. 
WU. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1948— 806034 
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