The Washington times., 1919-09-24
WOOD PLAYS PART
ING0ST OF LIVING

In figuring out your monthly
grocer bills you find "that things
have gone up" and in any mental
battle with the high cost OF living
Won almost always confine your
struFrIa 70 food co back Of food
a step and you win find many things
that increase the cost Of the food
you eat. although you cannot eat
those things, says Charles Lathrop
Pack. president, American Forestry
Association. The chief item OF the
list 90 wood.
reasons for the high cost OF living
and the American Forestry Associa-
ton calls attention 20 this with some
startling figures For example the
box IN which your berries or peaches
are dlBplayed at market costs about
three times what q did In "the good
old dayg." The barrel On which your
flour found its way to the grocer has
gone up 10 price. The paper In which
your meat % wrapped Is away az"
None, Of these things can be put
through your digestive apparatus
with any, degree Of success but the
consumer pays his share In the price
or the meat.
Thsrs b scarcely q commodity that
is not shipped OF handled in q WOOD
cOntaineF OF some sort. To say moth
ing OF home consumption, the United
states was exporting about three and
a half billion board feet Of lumber
every year before the war.
war EEhaugtsd supply.
Then the war called for wood II j
went into temporary structures OF
every description, such as camps, hos .
pitals, recreation huts, and the Ike. /
we must come up with Q sharp turn /
on the lumber question. A national i
forest policy must be adopted in this !
country, or we face economic suicide. /
The American Forestry Association
asks for the views OF the lumbermen'
timberland owners, and fOFesters on
this greatest Of our reconstruction
problemb IA order that q definite poll
Icy may be arrived at
We have just fought and won the
fight 70 save us from imperial aggres-
sion, but the fight TO save Us from
economic ruin Is just ahead OF us.
Are we going TO let the sacrifice OF
our heroes 80 for naught? What
Of the future in an economic sense?
The situation Go jujst this:
The original forest area OF the
United States was $50 million acres
There now remains in virgin timber
about 2SO million acres, or one-fOurth
Of the original.
500 IIiIHOn Acres.
Our total acreage Of forest and cut
over lands 70 about 500 million acres.
One hundred million acres Of this is
waste land which produces nothing.
and $50 million acres more contain
more or less second growth. A large
percentage Of this seeond-grOWIh
timber is inferior quality.
The new growth Of timber Is not
more than one-third Of the amount
which is being used or destroved
every year. ~
There ls plenty Of food in that last
paragraph. but it o. food for thouEht.
What OF our home building program
when we realize that the center Of
our lumber industry IS fast moving
10 the Pacific coast? What or our
home building program when we
realize that New England is no long
ar self-supporting in lumber and that
the lake states, once our greatest
producers Of lumber, are now im-t
2orterS Of it from other States? This
means long hauls and high freight
rates which the home builder must
pay. The time to build q home is
low with without . national forest
policy I do not believe cheaper lum-
Der can be predicted.
The forests OF France, millions Of
lcres OF which are now in ruins, kept
he Hun from reaching Paris. Other
7ast acreages had to be cut down for
var purposes. Civilization can thank
france for having a forest policy Of
more than q hundred years standing.
Ter forests answered the call OF war
vhen war came. Had the war come
fifteen years later we would have
'een pressed to meet the lumber pro-
sram. Let US heed the call Of thei
Orests before 1t Is too late.