Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-11-03

VIZ ASHINGTON, D. c., Oct. ga
w measure which is designed to put
all of the forest lands in the
United States, whether owned by the state,
by the nation or by private individuals, in
a condition Of maximum productivity, is to
be strongly urged upon the present con-
gress by the industries in this country
which are dependent upon forest products.
Their first effort is to bring home to
the American citizen the fact that, al
though he lives in one of the finest tim
ber-groWing countries in the world, his do
nestle timber supply is being rapidly ex-
hausted. He is paying higher prices every
year for paper, lumber and all other wood
products. More and more of them are
being imported every year. Our forest lands
are producing only fraction of what they
might produce, and the amount or en-
pIoyment they afford is correspondlngly
limited. A national forest policy is to the
interest of everyone in the country.
The various great wood-using industries
are supporting the Smell bill, which en-
bodies exactly what they want in the way
of timber conservation. Strangely enough,
the experts of the forest service, the Amer
lean Forestry association, and many others
interested in conservation, seem to be
equally satisfied with this measure. In
word, the business men and the scientists
for once seem to agree upon what is
needed. And the business interests for
once seem to have perceived that their in
terests will best be served in the long run
by policy of conservation, not one of un-
planned exploitation
The trouble is to arouse public interest
in the me. sure. Roosevelt years ago
aroused public interest in forest conserva-
ton to a high pitch when he succeeded in
having the national forests created. The
creation and use of the national forests
has been one of the few indisputable trt-
umphs of American legislation and admin
istration. The average man thinks it solved
the forestry problems for all time. AS
matter of fact, while it helped greatly, it
could not in the nature Of the case solve
it. The national forests are, all but
few small areas, in the west. The act came
too late to enable the government to get
large timber areas in the east.
Hence the forests protect only few va
rieties of trees, and not the most i'm
portant. By far the greater part OF the
national forests are timbered only with
pine, spruce and fir-sOft woods or rela-
| lively low value. The oak, maple, walnut
+! and other valuable hardwoods are scarcely
| protected by them at all Furthermore,
/ the government is limited by the act, IN
| it's acquisition of forest lands, to those
| that protect watersheds. This has kept
| the forest service protection away from I'M
pOrtant areas.
Timber Wasted
1t is the vast timber areas, and areas
| that might be covered with timber, IN prl-
vate ownership, that are being wasted.
| Fire, for one thing, is destroying billions
of dollars worth of timber. Nearly all of
it could be prevented. In the second place,
many pieces of land which are admirably
fitted for growing timber, and are not
useful or used for anything else, have long
lain waste, and must be reforested. In
the third place, owners of timber lands
and especially small owners, have no con-
| ception of using forest as a permanent
source of wealth, to be cropped at inter-
walls. American landowners as a whole
have not learned even the rudiments of
silviculture. To cut timber in this coun-
| try still means to wipe valuable natural
| resource out of existence.
The Smell bill is designed to remedy all
| of these evils. 1t provides a federal ap-
| preparation to be used in cooperating with
| the states in protecting and renewing their
| forests. The states required to put up
| as much money in each instance the
| federal government. This part of the meas
ure would mean the Introduction of uniform
| efficient methods of fire protection and
refOrestatiOn in every state. The need for
! it may be gagged from the fact that ex-
| perts pronounce our forest fire protection
system only 25 per cent efficient There
are about 175,OO0,00O acres of forest in
this country which are not protected from
fire at all, and this means wealth going
up in smoke just as surely as if you touched
a match to it. Only tWenty-slx OF the