INTRODUCTORY. 
The following Reports, written mostly by experts, form a more or less 
exhaustive account of what the railroads of our country have done or 
are doing to deplete our forests, and show how the wastefulness in the 
use of material, which is in danger of great diminution if not exhaustion, 
may be checked, to some extent, by increasing its durability through 
the employment of preserving processes ; by substituting, where ad- 
missible on financial grounds, other material; by observing conditions 
in its use hitherto largely overlooked ; and, lastly, by insuring a con- 
tinuance of supply through active forestry work on the part of railroad 
companies and in other ways. 
Considering the wasteful manner of getting out railroad timber, it 
can be fairly estimated that to build our present railroad system more 
than one hundred million acres, or one-fifth of our present forest area, 
were stripped during the last fifty years, and the next fifty will very 
likely call for more than double that amount, judging from the accel- 
erated development which is probable and the requirements for re- 
newal. 
While railroads have done much for the growth and development of 
our country, they are also responsible for much of the hindrance to re- 
form in the use of our forest resources. The rapid extension of our 
railroad system has brought within reach of markets distaut forest 
areas, where, to make lumbering profitable in the absence of home con- 
sumption for the inferior grades of material and leavings, wasteful and 
destructive methods of utilization have to be employed. 
While, therefore, directly and indirectly, railroad enterprises have 
contributed largely to a considerable reduction (if not destruction) of 
forest supplies, it might be presumed that, depending as they do* on 
these supplies and being by their own continuous character most deeply 
concerned in their continuation, the railway companies would feel a 
special interest in forest preservation. 
With this view the following reports have been prepared as aids to 
a proper appreciation of our wood material and its economical use. 
The report of Mr. M. G. Kern has been written after much corre- 
spondence with railroad managers. Extracts from this correspondence 
