The Daily Missoulian., 1909-02-14

couple of decades, enormously Increase
the value of these resources of the
nation, both as regards conservation
of water and the production of addi-
tional supplies of timber. Improve
ments will also be made in the stock
ranges where applicable by introduce
ing better forage plants and by re-
ducing the poisonous and more worth
less varieties. Such lines of work in
dicate clearly the policy of the gov
ernment in the administration Of the
national timberlands, namely, that
their resources shall not only be pre-
served from waste and deterioration,
but shall, as far as possible, be stead
lily increased and improved in the in
terests of the s5,00o,Oo0 shareholders
in the enterprise,
Necessity Recognized.
The necessity of the national forest
policy. as safeguarding the perma-
nent sources of national prosperity, is
now, l believe, almost universally
recognized. In addition to the all i'm
portant consideration of protecting our
water supply 1t is the NANTES; neces-
sty of protecting the country's stock
of timber from rapid exhaustion and of
providing reserve supply against the
time when the timber famine will be
sorely felt in the land. A few of the
statistics on this point are of start
ling Significance The United States
now consumes annually for all pur-
poses about one hundred billion
board feet of wood. The highest
estimate places the total remaining
stand of timber in the country at
two thousand billion feet. You
can easily divide 100 into 1000 and
determine for yourself how long
the present supply of timber
Will meet our needs, even as
suming that the annual consumption
remains stationary at it's present tig.
ure. Making liberal allowance for the
additional material which will be pro-
duced by growth the conclusion seems
unavoidable that 33 or 35 years will
witness the practical exhaustion of the
timber of the United States. All the
more evident therefore is the neces-
sity for the nation to take effective
action to conserve, to the fullest possi-
BILE degree, it's remaining timber sup
ply and make provision for the days
of scarcity which are surely coming.
The private owner Of timber land can
not, in the majority of cases, under
existing economic conditions. so ham
die his lands that a new growth of
trees will take place on the cutover
areas and future supplies of timber
be assured. The taxes which he must
pay, the protection of the land from
fire which he must provide, the sacri-
flee of a part of the immediate re-
turns from the business which he
must make in order to leave his land
in such condition that 1t will again
produce a growth of timber prevent
the average private owner from prac-
ticing forestry under the conditions
which now govern the lumber market.
From the standpoint of the people of
the country as a whole, private own
ership of timberlands has not been a
success. The constant losses from
fire. the waste of material which is
left in the woods because of unfav-
orable market conditions which pre-
vent It's sale, and the permanent elm
nations of large areas of forest as
far as future production is concerned,
through destructive methods Of log
ging, all Of these things have been
seen in practically every district or
the United States where logging op-
erations are carried on. For the private
owner, these conditions are unavoid-
able. He Is doing the best he can un-
der the market limitations which gov
ern his business. These Limitations
will. of course, gradually change and
the ultimate adoption of conservative
methods of handling timberlands by
all owners, as economic conditions re-
adjust themselves to meet the reduced
supply of timber, is certain. The ma
ton, however, cannot jeopardize its
future prosperity by leaving matters
of such vital concern wholly to pri-
vate initiative. The sound Judgment
Of the people at large has therefore
demanded that the timbered areas in
the public domain shall remain per-
manently in public ownership, as ma
tional forests and SO administered as
to meet as far as 1t Is possible to do
so, the future and permanent needs Of
the people.
Farmer Is Helped.
A national enterprise Of this char
acter, while Of benefit to everyone, is
Of peculiar benefit to the farmer
whose interests are the most stable
and permanent Of the whole country
National forests mean to the farmers
in the west the best protection that
1t is possible for human agency to
give to the water supply which is
the beginning and the end of their in
dustry. They mean a continuous and
future supply Of timber for the de-
veloping agricultural communities. a
supply to the use Of which the COM
munities nearest to the national for
ests will always have a preference
right. They mean the permanence Of
vast pastures as a perpetual resource
for the stockgrower. In all Of these