Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-07-31
THE NEW INDUSTRY.
Why Forestry is Becoming Important
to America.

to America.
Concerning the new and growing in
dustry of forestry, Success says: The
forester, while not ignoring the de-
mands of his own pocketbook, works
for the remotest posterity. When heI
clears tract of the wilderness of its
century-old timber he sows the seed
of a new forest, although the crop
will not mature for another century.
He seeks, even by the scientific direc-
ton of natures work, to leave for pos
terity a better forest than he found
Surely then, forestry is not an art to
be practiced by an individual. The
simple numbering of our forefathers,
making the most profit for today and
ignoring the morrow, is more attrac-
tive. Since the forester curtails his
profits by making provision for pos
terity, forestry can only be practiced
by the state or by great investment
corporations, operating on so large a
scale that the distant future must en-
ter into the calculations of this gener-
alton.
Strictly economic considerations de
mand that the state prevent the de-
spelling of our American forests by
lumbermen and pulp-makers. The
yearly lumber harvest in this country
now amounts to more than 40,000,000,-
900 feet. Great tracts of Virgin for
ests have been devastated. and no pro-
vision made for the future. The in
creasing demand for daily newspa-
pers. and many editions of them. is
having marked effect on forests close
to the centers of densest population.
A single New York newspaper con
sumes 140 tons of paper every day. or
100 100000 pounds year. Every day
| in the year thirty acres of timber must
! be cut to feed the presses of this sin
gle newspaper. This is an exception
ally large consumption of wood pulp
the largest in the world-but other
newspapers approach this consump
ton, and the yearly cut of pulp max
ers is rapidly increasing. In conse
auence the available supplies of spruce
are diminishing in the United States
and the pulp makers are movingnorth
ward into the Canadian forests fol
their raw material.
BY the creation of great forests ant
reservations by the national and state
governments, like the three-million
4 acre preserve in the Adirondacks, ant
the proposed Appalachian preserve
4 the state intends to set certain bar
riers to stay the progress of the lum
bermen and pulpmakers. But profes
sional foresters point out that the hes
interests of the nation are not bein!
conserved by the present policy OF for
bidding the cutting of trees on stat
; lands. Alarmed by the denuding 0
!, American forest lands, the idea ha
gained ground that it is a crime to Gu
down a tree. "Woodman, spare tina
) tree!" is the cry. Nut is is as idle t
. forbid the harvesting of wood crops
) when they reach maturity as it woul
be to forbid ID farmer to reap hi
, grain. Man must have food from tn
/ fields and wood from the forests
: AS well stop the mining of iron ore a
set barriers against the lumbermer
Timber must be had, and millions c
trees must be felled every year. Wha
lis demanded is not prohibitive legisl;
!, ton, but scientific sylviculture. so the
= new wood crops may be raised to pr
,, vide for future demands.