Albuquerque morning journal., 1913-11-28
Part Played by the Nation in
Forestry Must Always BE Large
Delivered by Henry GraNes
Federal Forest service at The F1fh National
walton Congress Washington

THE part played by the nation Il
forestry must always he large
Here as IN all other countries
the real development Of forestry be
gan when the government took up IL
practice. Even today some person,
would leave the forests entirely To prl
vate owners; others insist that tn,
public phases Of forestry are alto
gether q state function and fedora
activities in this field unealed for
Those who hold this view are usually
either lukewarm concerning the neet
for forest conservation or opposed I,
restricting private activities
National responsibility in fofestri
is perfectly clear-cut There need b,
no confusion with an equally clear.
cut responsibility Of the states. Ant
as 20 private forestry little of valu,
has so far been done that has moi
been an outcome Of public actor
through state or federal agencies, ol
both. II was the work of the federal
government in placing its own forests
under administration, its demonstra-
tlon Of fire protection and Of con.
seryatve numbering. it's experimental
and educational work. and its stlmu-
lus TO our educational Institutions to
train and turn out a large body Of
foresters, which created the present
wide interest In forestry and brought
the efforts of other agencies into sue
cessful play. / do not mean i'm any
way to overlook the splendid work
of certain individual states like Penn
sylyania and New York which dates
back many years. But that was local
ized in a few states. II required the
nation itself TO set IN motion a ma
tional movement The national work
will always be the backbone of
American forestry. not trenchng on
or interfering with state work or in
diyidual efforts but serving as a dem
onstration Of forest management on
its own lands, a center Of leadership.
cooperation and assistance to STATE
and private work, means 10 handle
interstate problems and coordinate
the work Of neighboring states,
guarantee that national needs which
individual states cannot meet viii be
provided for on a national scale.
Underlying The forestry problem
are two fundamental considerations
which should be emphasized and reit-
Grated until thoroughly driven home.
one is the public character of for
estry Teh public has a peculiar in
terest in the benefits Of forestry. Both
i'm the matter of continued supply of
forest products and in that of the
conservation of water resources the
public welfare is at stale. In each
case, purposes vital To the prosperity
OF the country can be accomplished
only with the direct participation of
the public. Private owners VIII se-
cure results only on a limited scale,
in the long run. on their own initia-
live. Il takes too long, fifty to two
hundred years to grow crop of TIM
hcr trees. Most private owners, in
face Of fire risk. bad laws, and uncer-
tain future markets. win not make the
necessary investments. Most lum-
bermen have bought their lands either
TO log or to speculate in the standing
timber not to grow trees for later
generations Nor viii private owners
make investments for general public
benefits, as in watershed protection
If the public is to secure the benefits
of forestry it must take the measures
necessary to guarantee these results
and it must bear the cost Of what il
receives.
Closely related to the fact that for
cstry Is i'm many aspects public
problem is the second Of the funda
mental considerations / wish 10 em-
phasize. Forestry requires stability
Of administrative policy and such
permanence of ownership as will
ensure it. Herein lies the difficulty
of private forestry on a large scale
Tmbe1land owners are interested in
the protection of their standing tim
her merely as insurance. Most of
them are not interested in forest pro-
duction, or in protecting cut-over
lands if that involves substantial an
nuai charges and is not necessary in
order TO prote their remaining stanG
ing timber. AS yet the problem Of
cut-oyer private ~lands is unsolved. It
is now devolving on the state to aid
in their protection from fire in the in
terest of it's own citizens. It will re-
Qulre the utmost resources of state
ana federal government together to
handle this problem of getting rea-
sonable protection of private forests
and permanent production Of timber
on over-cut lands Stability of poll
icy and permanence of ownership are
essential to any successful attack on
this great conservation problem
This principle Of stability Of policy
Of administration is a large factor in
successful handling of public proper
~ and has been consistently consid-
cred in the national forest work. | am
frequently asked as / travel about the
country whether l am going to make
important changes in the forestry
policy. ] was asked that very often
in 1910, when ] first took office ] am
asked ii often this year. Ny answer
is that what we are seeking is not
changes, but the development Of al
permanent public enterprise with
consistent and stable policies The
+NNNANAAl ANltotH Wttt set HnlAf III tfAN
recognition that the bulk of these
lands should be handled permanently
under public protection and control
Provision was made for the acquisi
ton of agricultural lands that might
be developed under private owner
ship and such areas are now being
classified and segregated from the for
ests very rapidly The successful