Evening star., 1921-09-08
STRESSES THE NEED
OF FOREST SAVING
Plea for Preservation Policy
Based on Importance Of
Wood Pulp.
By the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
Need of eliminating waste In the
printing business, as shown in the re-
port just issued by the committee on
elimination of waste in industry of
the American engineering council. is
one Of the most powerful arguments
ever put forth for a national forest
policy. says a statement by the Amer
ican Forestry Association, which has
made 1t the occasion to call on the
world press congress, which meets in
Honolulu in October, to take some
action on the forestry question.
Upon what does the newspapAr de-
pend for existenceT says the state
ment. 1T depends upon paper made
from wood pulp. There are about
$500 daily newspapers In the coun-.
try. Our annual consumption of two
million tons of news print a year
regulation daily paper and about
forty million miles long. Just as a
measuse of distance, remember that
the sun Is ninety-two million miles
away. 1t would also make a two
foot wide ribbon of newspaper around
the world 1900 times.
Law Of Necessity to Prevail.
"The time is coming when the eco
Homic law of necessity will bring our
! own publica tions to some sort Of re-
trenchment. The editors of the
United States and Of the world must
take up this question. Already more
; than one-third of our pulpwood
comes from across the Canadian bor-
der. and Canada. profiting by our
mistakes. is now taking steps to for
bid the cutting of timber at a rate
more rapid than its growth. That
means primarily that our annual i'm
rortation of Canadian pulpwood has
for the other two-thirds at least, we
will have to look after ourselves,
IF we once sQuarely face the facts,
the solution of the problem will not
be difficult. 1t is estimated that about
| three million cords of wood per year
magazines and newspapers. At ten
cords per acre this would mean three
hundred thousand acres. Supposing
that 1t takes about forty to fifty years
to grow good pulpwood spruce, and
allowing for possible loss by fire.
wind. blight or failure Of seeding. a
tract Of thirty thousand square miles
planted with forty successive crops Of
timber, each crop coming to maturity
at one-year intervals, would under
a perpetual supply of pulpwood for
news print. This means an area a
| little smaller than the state of Ohio,
but represents less than one-tenth of
! the area of our cut-over lands, most
| of which are now almost entirely un-
productive.
Perpetual supply Possible.
| There is no question that q
perpetual supply Of pulpwood for all
needs is possible and practical
| scheme. 1t will not, however, come
merely for the asking. There must be
first a proper national forestry law.
with adequate provisions for fire pro-
| lection and government of reforesta-
tlon on scale large enough to
demonstrate the economic soundness
of the idea; second, every state must
adopt thorough-going forestry prin-
ciples with provisions to protect
growing timber from exorbitant taxa
ton, and, finally, with these laws as
basis, the pulp and paper industry
together with all other wood-usine
industries, must be made to see thai
in practical reforestation and con-
servation lies their only salvation
To accomplish these three things vii
require the united efforts Of ever,
leave to any group of foresters and
legislators the sole initiative In soly'
ing such an important economic prob
\ lem, but by the continued expressior
of our thought and conviction, We
, can urge those groups to supply oul
imminent need.
,, Here is waste that staggers th'
Imagination. Forest fires annually de-
! stroy two million feet of timber, OF
material enough to build five-roon
, frame house every one hundred fee