Bisbee daily review., 1908-05-15
OUR FORESTS,
 CONSERVATION, PERPETUAT|0N
Address in Part of R. A. Long of Kansas City at Confer ence of. Governors at the White House.

perpetuation of our forests and unre- munerative prices for lumber cannot travel the same road, for conservation means to handle, to treat, to take care of, and save in such manner as to re- tain the use or benefit of a given product as long as possible. Perputu- ation of forests means to so exploit the forests as to make them contin- uous and perpetual, which can only be done by spending money contin- uously in planting, seeding, protecting, etc, which low prices of any commod- ity means neglect and waste. This cannot be more forcibly illustrated than by the conditions existing tooHy, as applied to lumber; on account of the low prices now prevailing, the logs making low grade lumber, secur- ed principally from that portion of the tree approaching the limbs, and con stituting at least twenty per cent ol the forests. are left in the woods to rot or burn, because the lumberman would no more think of using the raw material out of which he could not obtain cost, than the farmer would harvest a crop of faulty corn VuS U. which he could not obtain the cost of gathering
 This leaving of twenty per cent of our logs in the woods, as applied to the yellow pine industry alone, If we market as much lumber this year as last, means that We will have wasted over 300,o00 acres of forest land, anu so, in order that the product of these low grade logs may take their place in the lumber supply Of the world, and our timber be saved or conserved, the manufacturer must at least have cost for his low grade lumber, which means a comparatively better price for the better grade; and this need not necessarily mean high priced lum- Der, but the price must be removea materially from the prices now pre- vailing, and such as we touch period ically, even in normally good tunes, for lumber is like every other prod uct. controlled by supply and demand, and il we would build mills with suffi- cient capacity to supply the demand of the country in times of extreme ac- tivity. such as we had in 1906 and the first two-thirds of 1907, we will nave capacity beyond our requirements In normal times, and under such condi- tions, down go the prices.
 On account of such varying anu unstable conditions, it will be found difficult. if not impossible, 10 get the timber owner to enter actively Into the methods required for the perpet- uation of the forests by spending even the minimum required, which understand to be fifty cents per thou sand. WhiIe this does not seem a large amount, there are concerns making as much as two hundred and fifty million feet of lumber per an mum, and hence to these, the cost or this item would be $125,0OO per an- mum. If his or its competitor, was pursuing the same practice, all would be well; if not, he would, for the lnl- mediate present, be out that Mucn more money than his competitor, ana during dull periods, such as now, when prices were close to the cost line. even for the better grades or lumber. he would hardly feel disposed to contract for such an outlay
 The Government only owning about twenty-two per cent ct our TOT est area, cannot alone to any great degree, effect what we are seeking Ill this conference, so far as forests are concerned.
 whatever plan is adopted must fur nish an incentive, substantial in- ducement to the timber owner, 10
 forego a present gain for the paDnc good, and in this matter 1t can ohly be accomplished by governmental co, operation. And what is done, shouia be done quickly, for the time IS iasl approaching when our forests VIII pe
 so nearly gone, when the desuuctlo1 !ji be SO nearly completed, that IL VIII
 be too late. ,..,. o,
 ssWiI the government avail itself oi this golden opportunity and learn 70 | aid inc conservation of this spiendla natural resource, in order to suppiy | t,,a timber for future generations; pc wise and patriotic enough to proSlue
 for inc inevitable result that mus occur before the middle of the tWen-
 tiath century. and thereby perform the | tr7,a function of good governments ln | inc promotion of the health, wealtn and prosperity of the peopleE Or wif, climatic changes following the destruction of our forests, shall man ufacture die with them and commerce | fail as A natural result of agricultural 1 and manufacturing decadenceE
 'Disclaiming ali partisan or pofit' icai references, and speaking only ci l economic conditions as We find them, IT do not think I sho6ld neglect te | say that the present demoralizing conditions existing in our commercial
 and manufacturing life, and the con l seouent waste and loss incident there to. and especially incident to the l wastesg. destruction of hundreds ot thousands of acres of timber annually lis. in my judgment, due largely to the pernicious effect of that class of leg | islation which, by its application, has Dlaced an absolute prohib4tson on every form of agreement looking to conservation, has placed baa upoI
 sH meetings and discussions having | for their object the adoption Of the most salutary measures For the pres l ervation of this natural resource, ant the instant and unfair denunctation oi i every meeting of the so-cailed 'Lum l her Trust, which does not and nevel did exist; has produced such con dition of mind along lumbermen tha they feel that they can no longer meei together for the general discussion oi matters so vitally affecting their in ! terests and the we!fsre of this nation !. without subjecting themselves to tis humiliation of a prosecution. Tbi condition in the lumber business ha' 1 led to the reduction of the wage scale of hundreds of thousands of men
 affecting many millions of peoisc. na. left twenty per cent of the timber ir
 the forest to waste, and unless VI