Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-11-01
A NATIONAL FOREST POLICY.
BY Frederic !. Haskin

Washington, ID. c., Oct. 2s,--A
measure which is designed 10 put ALI
OF the forest lands in the United
States, whether owned by the state,
by the nation or by private individuals,
in condition OF maximum productiv-
| ity is 10 be strongly urged upon the
present Congress by the Industries in
this country. which are dependent
upon forest products.
Their first effort In 10 bring hone
10 the American citizen the fact that.
although he lives In one Of the flnest
timber growing countries in the world,
his domestic timber supply is being
rapidly exhausted. He is paying high
er prices every year for paper, iun-
her and all other wood products. More
and more Of them are being imported
every year. Our forest lands are pro-
ducing only a fraction Of what they
might produce. and the amount Of en-
pioyment they afford is corresponding
ly limited. A National forest policy
is to the interest OF everyone In the
country.
The various great wood-using indus
tries are supporting the Smell bill,
which embodies exactly what they
want in the way Of timber conserva-
ton. Strangely enough, the experts
Of the Forest Service, the American
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 per-
ceiyed that their interests win best be
served in the long run by a policy Of
conservatism, not one OF unplanned
exploitation.
The trouble IL TO arouse bubble in
terest N the measure. Roosevelt.
years ago aroused public interest in
forest conservation to q high pitch
when he succeeded in having the ma
tional forests created The creation
and use Of the national forests has
been one Of the few indisputable tri-
lumphs OF American legislation and ad.
ministration. The average man thinks
/ II solved the forestry problem for all
time. As a matter Of fact, while IT
helped greatly. # could not in the ma
ture Of the case soFve it. The nation
al 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 a
few varieties Of trees. and not the
most important. BY far the greater
part Of the national forests are tim
/ bered only with pine, spruce and fir
soft woods Of relatively low value. The
cak, maple. walnut and other valuable
hardwoods are scarcely protected bv
them at all. Furthermore. the gov
ernment is limited by the act, In its
acquisition Of forest lands, TO those
| that protect watersheds. This has
kept the Forest Service protection
away from important areas.
Timber Wasted.
II is the vast timber areas. and
areas that might be covered with
timber, in private ownership, that are
being wasted. Fire, for one thing. is
destroying billions OF dollars worth
OF timber. Nearly all OF II could be
prevented. In the second place, many
pieces of land which are admirably
fA-~~~N - SACNAAAH ana are not
useful or used for anything else. have
long lain waste. and must be reforest-
ed In the third place, owners OF tim
Der lands, and especially small own
ers, have no conception Of using a
forest as a permanent source of
wealth, to be cropped at intervals
American land owners az a whole
have not learned even the rudinents
or silviculture. To cut timber in this
country still means to wipe a valuable
natural resource out of existence.
| The Smell bin is designed to remedy
all Of these evils. II provides a Federal
appropriation 10 be used in co-operat-
Ing with the states in protecting and
renewing their forests. The states
are required to put up as much money
IN each instance as the Federal Gov
ernment. This part OF the measure
would mean the introduction of uni
form efficient methods OF fire protec-
ton and reforestation in every state.
The need for it may be guaged from
the fact that experts pronounce our
forest fire protection system only %
per cent efficient. There are about
l75,000,0o0 acres of forest in this
country which are not protected from
fire at all. and this means wealth