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12-6-29 



and on inen^s backs* Domestic iron and coal, therefore, are produced only in 

 small qiiantities and are so costly that they can hardly compete in the seaport 

 cities with the iron and stegl "brotight from North America and from Europe. 



Well, there's the lesson— — there's the situation in a country that wasted 

 its wood supplies. TThat's the moral, so far as the United States dre concerned? 



First of all, the Government forest men say that y;e are going to continue 

 to need v/ood. Of course, we can use other materials for many purposes for which 

 wood is now used or was once used. We have "been doing THAT for a long time. 

 Wood for fuel, for example, has "been largely replaced "by coal, gas, or oil, ex- 

 cept in rural districts a long way from such a fuel supply. Wooden houses are 

 being torn down and replaced by brick or concrete houses. Office furniture is 

 being made of steeli Steel wire has almost replaced wooden rails for fences and 

 in some cases iron and concrete posts are supporting fences that once were mde 

 almost entirely of wood. Wooden ships, bridges, and railroad cars are rapidly 

 becoming as out-of-date as ear-muffs or snuff boxes. 



But with all this, we are still going to need plenty of wood in this comitry. 

 Even if our FER CAPITA consumption should fall as low as present European stand- 

 ards, the increase in population which is likely to take place in the iiext 50 

 years will keep our timber requirements at a level little, if any, below our 

 present timber needs. Furthermore, it often takes wood to inake the very things 

 which are designed to take the place of wood. The coal mines of the United 

 States alone consme a billion board feet of 1-umber a year. And of course we 

 are constantly increasing and broadening the uses for wood. As our cities grovr, 

 more and more wood will be needed to malce the. containers in which their food 

 is shipped in from the producing sections. 



All this brings us down to a rather obvious moral: GROW MORE WOOD OR ELSE 

 USB LESS. Americans must depend largely on their own resources, so far as wood 



is concerned. But the drain on our forests may be reduced in 2 ways: First 



we can eliminate a large part of the waste that now takes place. We can prevent 

 some of the fire, storm, disease, and insect-pest losses to our standing timber 

 supply. More careful use of the trees that are cut will allow us to cut 7 or 8 

 billion board feet less wood without cutting down the present rate of consmption. 

 We are using much more of the whole tree now than we used to and we can use still 

 more of it. Second — we can conserve our forests and timber supply by using less 

 wood. Americans have biirned the forest candle at both ends for many generations, 

 mainly because wood has been cheap and plentiful. As wood becomes scarce and 

 dear, we may haTW to do what China has done.' But before wo reach that stage, 

 it's best to begin a certain conservative discipline. We will always need our 

 forests. We should, therefore, conserve and niaintain them. 



ANlTOUlTCEIffiNT: That was the Wilds Man you just heard, taking you to Washington 

 for your regular weekly visit with Uncle Sam's iiat^aralists. His talk is broad- 

 cast by Station every Friday, in cooperation -with the U. S. Department of 



Agriculture, Write to the Forest Service of the Department, Washington, D. C, 

 if you want still more facts and figures on the future of A.iierica's wood-pile. 



