Evening star., 1919-11-09
SOME COAL STRIKE INSURANCE.

i<v F you saw tho ocean creeping
upon your property at the rate
OF about q foot n month YOU
would do something about 1t.
With our forests being repienished at
about one-third the rate they are be-
ing cut down for lumber and destroy
ID By fre every year, very little is
done about it,"
There, In paragraph. is the reason
fer national forest policy. as ex-
pressed by Charles Lathrop Pack,
Association. Last year the forest fire
less was estimated at $2S,500, 600 and
the United States used six billion feet
OF lumber for war work alone, to say
nothing OF the regular annual demand.
Either Of these items is well worth
considering.
"A coal strike brings home to us an
other great reason for Il national for
est policy" says Mr.. Pack. where
are tho wood lots that once were SO
common? Supposing that every farm
er and thousands upon thousands OF
our towns had wood lots. Every mu-
nicipality should have wood lot that
could be used for a recreation ground
and intelligently cut from time to
time. This would be coal strike in
surance OF the best kind. DO you
know that without trees there would
not be any coal? Our forests are like
bank; we must deposit in them IL
We expect to draw out now and then.
ASK any publisher who buys print pa
par where he is to get paper in future
years IL our forests disappear. That
u another phase Of the greatest prob-
lem before the country today-the
perpetuation Of our forests, our great
est natural resource.
s,,., ....,.. .ts.<~i.;I tiSx"'%s ." '""''3t'' NJ
Then there is still another very
important phase. and that is the build
a-home campaign and the high cost OF
living. Wood enters into every phase
OK our economic life almost without
exception. The barrel in which the
nour ts shipped costs more than ~
ever did. but you cannot eat the bar.
rel The paper bag in which your
sugar comes-if you are getting any
sugar-costs more than ever, but you
cannot eat the bag. / doubt il anv.
thing can be named into which tho
COST OF wood does not enter. What
are we going to do about it? >
"A hundred years ago France saw
parts OF her seacoast being washed
away. Did France sit down and
weep' No. she began planting trees.
ana With what result? During the
. w ~. one 2k the higgcs. 'luifIbef camps
OF the 10th Engineers was located m
tnose one-time sand heaps, and they
were cutting down the forests for the
trencnes FOR the boys at the front!
Ioday the people of France get two
sevenths Of their fuel wood from cut-
tings made Of roadside and cana1side
treo planting. These are being con-
stanoy thinned. but when France cuts
she also plants.
Tnere Is great saving campaign
ON In this country. but all the thrift
stamps In the world will not buy lum-
DER II there is no lumber to buy. The
center OF tho lumber industry is fast
moving to the Pacific coast. That
means long hauls and high freight
rates. New England is no longer
self-supporting in a lumber way Tho
lsks states were once the center of
the lumber industry, but go up along
the shores OF Michigan and Wisconsin
new and look at the old sawmills
falling into decay. Here are some
figures that will give an idea of Just
whore We stand:
The original forest area of the
Omitted States was S5O,O0O,0Oo acres.
There now remains in virgin tim
bsr about 2so.ooo.oOo acres; about
one-eourth tho original.
Our total present acreage of forest
ana cut-over lands is about 100000
80 acres.
"One hundred million acres of this
ID waste land which produces nothing.
and l8o.000.00o acres more contain
msre or less second growth timber.
A large percentage Of this Is inferior
quality.
The new growth of timber is not