The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-07-17
TWO DEPARTMENTS.
 COMBINE TO SAVE FORESTS OF NATION

Washington July 17.-The Score tary of Commerce and the Secretary of Agriculture have completed plans whereby their two departments will combine in a constructive study Of the supply and exploitation of timber in the United States which has now be- industrial problems. The study Is to be undertaken in the belief that the methods used in exploiting timber re- sources and the restoration of normal and healthy conditions in the indus tries which convert timber into usable products. vita1ly concern the public at large.
 One of the conditions which, in the opinion of the secretaries5 makes this study of immediate importance, is the fact that the United States, which con tatns some 5000 billion feet of stand ing timber, is now reducing It's stock of stumpage at the rate of sixty or more billion feel annually. Tn spite of this limited timber supply, IuRbernen are now unable to market much of the poorer grades. They therefore leave in the woods or burn in their mills from one-third to one-half of the. material in the trees Poor varieties of timber be burned in the slash fires which us- uaIIy follow logging. Some of this waste it is believed Is preventab1e, and much more. it is hoped, can be saved under improved conditions of market ing and use of wood.
 One of the objects of these studies is to lessen this total waste which. if allowed to continue, will be felt soon CT or later Because of these and dth- CT existing conditions in the timber and. numbering districts, the secretar- ies of both department feel that kr a the interest alike Of the forest-using industries and the consuming public.
 The more important elements in the project of the two departments are as follows:
 The studies VIII seek to establish the essential facts relating to supply, ex- ploftation and marketing of timber at Molne and abroad. and to analyze the underlying causes of present satisfac- tory conditions The aim will be to deal helpfuI1y with the various prob 1ems presenteds and to indicate as far as it may be practicable. measures which should be adopted by the in dustry itself. or by the public in rela- lion to the industry. The studies will be conducted directly by the Forest Service in the Department of Agrf- culture and the Bureau of Foreign and ati0n Of the Bureau of Corporations ikr q the Bureau of Standards of the Department Of Commerce, within their special fields All the information hith- erto gathered by these different agen- cfes as to the standing timber. the 1nanufacture and marketing of lumber, the quality of various tin'bers, and the more econornicaI and more profitable utilization of wood will be correlated with any new data gathered and used to indicate Improvements.
 Among the related industrial and business questions which will be con sidered are the effects upon lumber production of speculation in standing timber and. the carrying charges on private gtumpage; the extension of markets including the development of the foreign market for lumber and other forest products and the market ing of material in new forms; and the competition of lumber produced in other countries and of other mater ials used for the same purposes
 Attention also will be given, in the interests Of consumers and manufac- turers, to the questions of the dis tance between the producer and the consumer. and the distributing agen- cies which absorb a, considerable part of the retail price.
 The inquiry has to do not only with the thrifty use of the present timber supply. hut also with the possibility of applying forestry in the future man agement of private timber lands.