THE STATUS OF FORESTRY IN THE UNITED STATES. 



THE FOREST SITUATION. 



Avery few years ago "forest conservation" was little more than a 

 phrase; to-day it is a vital issue in our National development. In 

 connection with the general plan to conserve all natural resources, it 

 is the most important and far-reaching economic policy ever adopted 

 and pursued by any nation. It affects the every-day life of every 

 man in his work, in his recreation, and in his home, and it deals with 

 such questions as whether the earning power of his labor and the pur- 

 chasing power of what he earns are to be reduced or maintained, 

 whether what are now his comforts will, of necessity, become his luxu- 

 ries, and whether he is to be a citizen of an impoverished, backward 

 nation or of a rich and progressive one. 



These things are bound up with the practice of forestry because 

 the forest is one of the chief supports of the whole material fabric of 

 our civilization. The forest means not only a permanent supply of 

 wood and the life of all the industries which depend upon it, but also 

 the control of the waters for human use. There is only barrenness 

 in the future of the nation which has lost the use of wood and the con- 

 trol of water. 



The sort of use that was made of natural resources during the pio- 

 neering stage, while right enough at the time, is far too wasteful to be 

 carried on into the new industrial era. In order to know how to use 

 a thing, however, it is necessary first to find out how much of it there 

 is to use, and taking stock of our forest resources has led to startling 

 results. 



It has shown that we are still destroying the forest as we use it; 

 that we are taking from it every year three and a half times as much 

 wood as is added by the new growth. It has shown that less than 

 one-third of the growing tree felled by the lumberman is ever used 

 at all, so that two-thirds of all the timber cut is simply destroyed. 

 It has shown that one-eleventh of all the forests are swept by fires 

 every year, and that on the average since 1870 forest fires have yearly 

 cost $50,000,000 in timber and 50 lives. It has shown that over 99 

 per cent of the forests in private hands — which comprise three-fourths 

 of all the forest land and four-fifths of all the wood — is thus devastated 



[Cir. 167] 3 



