The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-02-21
FOREST RESOURCE: 1: FORMS IMPORTANT.
 PART IN WARFARE.
Part of German Strength is Due to Her We'll Cared
 For Forests.
TIMBER NECESSARY
 TO GAIN VICTORY
Wood Gan Not Be Quickly Produced and Can Not Be
 Substituted.

If, the French had had no forests at the outbreak of the war, France would be devastated today and the nations of middle Europe would be feasting in the halls of Paris, writes J. ". Tourney, director of the Yale School of Forestry, in the American Forestry Magazine of Washington. victory" declares Prof. Toumey. ..is with the army whose country has the greatest iron mines and smelters, the largest areas of waving grain and an abundance of wood.
 "Of all the products of the soil up- on which the very life of a nation Le- bends in times of war, wood is the only one that cannot be rapidly in creased under necessity and by the employment of adequate labor. There fore, provision for adequate national defense necessitates the maintenance of vast resources of timber through out the nation, reserves from which billions of feet can be drawn in a sin gle year if necessary to meet the needs of the army and navy.
 
 ment of forest resources to meet the needs of the nation in times of peace necessitates a constantly increasing intensity of management of all abso- lute forest land and the building up and maintenance of an enormous for est capital.
 England has for centuries neglect ed her forests and for generations has obtained most of the wood used in her buildings and industry from be- yOnd the sea. The stress of war found her with meager forest capital, and ! England's sons today are felling the remnant of the forests of that proud country that the empire may live l When the sOmber clouds of war are lifted from Europe's battlefields and peace again rules over the earth | England's lesson, learned in this bit ter strife, will be taken to heart by her people and forests will clothe her idle lands. A forest capital far be- yond that of former days, will not only add to her economic develop ment in time of peace, but be deve1- oped and maintained to better insure her against vital needs in times o1 | pOSS4Dl6 future SIIll6.
 France has been more far-seeing in her forest policy, and, next to Ger many, has been the most successful nation in Europe in the economic de- Velopment of her non-agrieultural lands for the production of timber When the war broke out she had a forest capital that under the necessity of strife could be drawn upon for vast supplies of wood necessary for min- i ing, transportation and trench con- struction, all vital to her very exist ence.
 "A regiment of American foresterS and woodsmen is already in France Other regiments are being formed tC be sent as soon as equipped anG trained. Thousands of foresters train at Yale and elsewhere and woodsmer trained in every forest from the At 1antic to the the Pacific and iron Canada to the Gulf are busy behind the western front, hurrying wooG from the forest to the front.
 ''The products of French forests back of the English and French line. force in the Allied victory which we
 
 believes in and is ready to fight fol and if necessary die to attain.
 1The reconstruction of France after peace again reigns over the earth vii cry aloud for the rehabilitation O. her forests, that her forest capital exhausted by the war, may be re- -es tablished, may again be a potent fac tor in her industrial development anC a great, commanding asset in nationa defense.
 Germany, at the outbreak of war had a vast forest reserve, developed through generations of fostering car, and careful management. Her war time demands for timber, like that O the Allies, have been very great. He famous Black Forest, so near tn twestern front, is playing a prodigiou part in the war drama from the Blacl Sea to the Swiss border. Rumor come to us that much of this grea forest has been cut for war purposes In my opinion the products from tn Black Forest have been a dominan factor in holding the German lines It is entirely possible that it has bee a controlling factor. Without then or other supplies of German wood, tn invaders would have been swept iron foreign soil long ago. Now we are tol that the world war is straining Ger imany's timber resources beyond tn
 breaking point.
 ,, "Our own great nation, 5000 mile from the blood-stained fields of Eur
 ope is now calling for tremendou
 quantities of wood for the needs c nd C : our Allies. 7, This nation fortunatel
 has vast reserves of virgin timbe
 which, if need be, can supply all ou V own requirements for national de y fense and provide necessary supplie < of our Allies. Without timber i
 abundance this nation would be tC : day like mighty giant without arm " Scarcely an article of commerce s produced or brought to it's point C | utilization without the use of woo
 in some process of it's production
 manufacture or transportation. e This great world war is showin u us more clearly than heretofore tn u great importance of forest conserve u tion It is showing us the great nee . of the forest in national defense.
 time our virgin forests with their va!
 resources of timber will disappea 1T With their disappearance are we = lose this important asset in times e war, or are we to keep our vast fol
 est property intact by protecting
 and by organizing our absolute fore s, land for successive crops of timber ( It our virgin stands disappear?
 'f American forestry is what tt J. public wills it to be. Its ns5vemel
 forward into what it ought to be