Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-10-05

statement Of Secretary Meredith, of
the Department of Agriculture, that
America is consuming timber four times as
fast as she is growing it, and that at this
rate five-and-twenty years will see her pres
ent supply exhausted.
Every sphere of our daily interests and
activities, from the building of the smallest
cottage to the fate of the nations chief in
dustries, is involved in this disquieting state
of affairs. Already construction costs have
reached a forbidding figure; what will they
be decade or so hence if the practice OF
constantly destroying and never restoring the
forests continue? Already the interests of
agriculture are suffering as result of de-
nuded hills and consequent lack of flood
control; what will be the losses in fertility
and productiveness generation hence, If this
waste goes unchecked?
Heretofore the discussion of forestry prob
lens has been left to a few Jealous sclen-
lists, to whom the business world gave little
or no heed, and who found it extremely dlf-
ficult to interest national and State 1egisla-
tors. But the time is at hand when this
matter will force itself upon the country's
practical attention, and the aid of science
be sought as eagerly for reforestation as for
fighting the spread of a deadly disease.
Indifference in the decades gone by is taxing
the American public millions today in the
cost of virtually every article which wood
products enter. Print paper, for one instance
out of hundreds, has advanced to prices
which publishing interests frequently find
almost insuppOrtable and which threaten the
progress of popular education. Likewise in
every field of industry and commerce, one
branch or another of this problem presses
sharply home.
How vitality concerned is the South ap-
pears from the official figures showing that
ten years hence this region. to which the
entire nation now largely looks for lumber.
will be producing less than its own needs
require. pine forests Of the South Atlantic
and Gulf States" says Secretary Meredith
have been reduced from about six hundred
and fifty billion board feet to about one hun
dred and thirty-nine billion. During the
past fifteen years the South has been fur
nishing the building lumber and structural
timbers for the Eastern and Central States:
within ten years these TWO regions will have
TO start shipping from the Pacific coast"
This means, for one thing, increased freight
bills for the longer hauls; and it Is worth
acting that at present the Eastern con-
sumers of lumber face the prospect Of pay
ing some six hundred million dollars a year
in this one item. Add the other increases
which inevitably attend waxing demand
and waning supply, and the seriousness of
the outlook becomes unmistakable.
The situation demands, first Of all, keener
efficiency and larger foresight In the use OF
our remaining sources of timber supply; the
wasteful and wantonJv destructive methods
which have obtained all too widely hereto
fore must cease. But this alone will not suf-
Zee. There must be also a vigorous, far
reaching movement for reforestng the naked
htiis and the Idle cut-over lands, If the dan
gers that now loom ahead are to be averted.
To this end, the Federal Government should
devote its most liberal energies, while the
States should give their various local aspects
Of the problem intensive treatment. All this
will require, of course good deal of special
legislation and considerable funds But the
initial step in any we'll considered State plan
is the establishment of forestry bureau OF
commission through which due cooperation
can be maintained on one hand with the ma
tional authorities, and on the other with prl-
vate owners of timberlands. With this be-
ginning fairly made, the way for the con-
structive work so imperatively needed will
be open.