The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-01-29
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORM A TON
BUREAU
FREDERIC J. HAGKIN. Director.
Washtngton, D. c.
NEW TREEs FOR FRANCE
Waahtngton. D. c.

ASSOCIATION 10 De sent TO france, TO
aid in the work of reforestation. The
state of Pennsylvania has contributed
100 pounds of white pine. seed and so
pounds of Douglas fir seed. Mime
sofa has sent 200 pounds of white
pine seed. But much more is needed.
France can use 700 pounds of these
seeds.
The request for American seed came
from the French Forest Service to
the United States Forest Service, but,
while the American organization was
able to send large quantities of plants
aid seeds that it happened to have
| on hand, it had no appropriation with
which to buy additional seed for
France. So it turned the request over
to the American Forestry Association
| "a private organization of great
wealth and influence. Mr.. Percival
s. Ridsdale, secretary of the associa-
ton, is now in France. investigating
! forestry conditions, with a view to
| placing the assistance of his asSocia-
ton where it will do the most good.
| The condition of the French forests
! today is so bad that it has enlisted the
| interest of foresters all over the world.
More than 1,25O,000 acres of French
forest were actually demolished by the
| war. while over so per cent of the re-
| naming merchantable timber had to
be cut in the cause of defense. This
would be a heavy blow to any nation,
| but to France, who had worked over
and cherished her forests for the past
fifty years, it is nothing short OF a
national calamity.
| In America, wood is a common ma
terial. There is plenty of it, and only
recently has it ever been suggested
that the supply was not inexhaustible.
| Only recently has forest conservation
| propa ganda been launched. But in
France, devastated by many wars,
wood was not plentiful. even at the
| outbreak of the war. The nation had
to import one-third of its lumber.
| Hence, the strictest kind of conserva-
and every effort was made to increase
| the forested land. In a hundred
years, France succeeded in creating
forests where formerly there were on
| ly sandy wastes, in planting trees on
| barren mountain slopes, and in estab-
| fishing a national timber resource
that surprised the neighboring nations.
Over 2 per cent of the French for
ests is owned by the government.
Forty-three per cent is owned and
| situations. and the rest is privately
| owned. Even the timber in the hands
oe the communes and private owners
is partially controlled by the govern
ment.
| 1t may be imag ined, therefore, that
after nourishing it's woodland so vigil
| lantly, France tossed it in the arena of
war only with great pain and self-sac-
| riflce. The first demand was from the
French army. Barracks, factories,
! gunstocks. machinery, and miles and
| miles of trench boards had to be sup
| piled. A French wood-service division
| was created under the Ministry of
| Munitions. which obtained its timber
supplies only with the permission of
| the French Forest Service. Its work
was made extremely difficult by the
almost immediate occupation of the
enemy, whose forces were shifted from
| point to point. Just as the French
| army located a lumber mill at a point
| approved by the forest service, and
| pitched its tents and machinery for
a week or two of hard work, the Ger
man guns were certain to disturb
\ operations.
Then arrived the British army. 1t,
| too, needed timber for barracks, sta
| bles and railroad ties, and 1t could not
wait for supplies to be shipped across
the channel. With a sigh of despair,
the French forest service presented
/ the British army with passports to
certain sturdy pine forests, some ofy
| them containing trees a hundred or
i more years old. Next, came the Cana
dams with a separate forestry regi-
ment of their own, and more passports
were issued. And, at last, came the
| Americans, with their fearful reputa-
| lions for extrava gance.
1t began to look as if there would
| be a. great deal of confusion and re-
sulting inefficiency from the overlap
| ping demands of Frances allies. So
an interallied council for wood-prod
| ucts for war needs was esta blished,
with headquarters in a famous old
residence opposite the statue of George
| Washington in the Place des Etats-
Unis Omitted States Place. in Paris.
Here the allies settled their timber
| disputes. agreed on certain isolated
territories. and ordered the movements
| of their forestry regiments.
| Meantime, the forests of the north
| ern provinces of France were in the
| hands of the enemy-or. rather, what
was left of them. The Germans had
| made them thier special target, be-
cause they knew that they concealed
| the movement OF troops. the position
of batteries and machine guns, and
| even machinery and ammunition
| housed in temporary structures. The
! very thickness of the timber and the
! underbrush, which made them such
| admirable coverings for defense oper-
| atoms, also made them conspicuous
| targets for the enemy. When a for
| est was under severe fire" says Col.
| Henry s. Graves. chief of the United
| States forest service, who has just re-
! turned from duty abroad, the dam
age was so great that there was al
| most no salvage. What was not split.
cracked or smashed. was filled with
| shrapnel splinters. making it impos
sible to saw board or cross-tie- In
| some places. few snags, splintered
stumps. shattered trunks and limbs
| are all that are left of what was once
dense forest
| An American author who recently
! returned from France says that he has
| never seen such dismay written on
| any human countenance as that on the
I face of French forestry officer who
escorted him thru a strip of territory
just We Gated by the enemy. "Behold-
the work and care of a century-it is
gonei We cannoot do 1t again in a
| hundred years. said the officer.
This depletion of the French for
ests has grave economic aspects. For
it means the destruction of Frances
| home wood industries. which before
! l.. L.