The Washington herald., 1921-03-29
OUR IDLE LANDS
INCREASING WITH
AMAZING SPEED
Important Need of Ref0r-
estation Is Apparent,
Says Chief
MUCH FOREST LAND
Practically Every Industry in
Country Dependent on Some
Form of Forestry.
MUCH FOREST LAM

a point In this country where three-
ffths of the primeval forests are
gone and where 81 per cent of the
timber that is left is west Of the
Great Plains, Col. w. B. Greeley,
chief forester of the United States
Forest Service, recently told the
members of the Chicago Associa-
tion of Commerce.
Liberal use of American forests
was a necessary part OF the COM
mercial growth of this. nation, Col.
Greeley believes, but reforestation
should have been practiced, IL not
from the start. at least In late
years. There Is an abundant area
Of forest land in this country to
support all Industries. and liberal
supply of wood is most necessary
to the people of this country. 1t
was thought that, IKE the European
countries, we would use, when our
civilization was older. but one-third
or one-half as much wood per capita
as we did in the early days. But
this rule does not affect the Ameri-
can people. The older the States
and communities in this country
grow, the more timber they seem
to require in one form or another.
Demands Centinse to Grow.
Many substitutes have been de-
vised for wood, and yet the great
demand of the country for timber
continues TO grow. More wod is
used in construction today than be-
fore the discovery of concrete, and
10 ir hni1AinO rail-
way cars than before the steel or
part steel car was developed. This
is apparently true in nearly every
industry.
Abundant and widely distributed
forests have meant to the United
States homes for the masses Of the
people beyond the standards of any
other nation. They have placed
newspapers and magazines on the
average family table. They have
contributed largely to social ana
Industrial conditions which promote
democracy and constructive energy
rather than discontent and destruc-
tive social forces bred by hard and
comfortless conditions OF life.
The idleness of s1.ooo.ooO acres OF
forest land. an area increased by
5000. 900 to 10000. 900 acres appu-
ally. destructive logging. and still
more destructive forest fires. are the
factors at work to increase the
timber shortage.
Forest Land Enough.
The exhaustion OF American tim
Der has not come about because the
forests have been used so freely.
h,t Af h. fa
forest growing land. In a nutshell.
the problem is that the United States
is cutting wood out of its forests
three or four times as fast as il is
being grown. Much of the land on
which timber stands or has been cut
of will always be forest land. 1t is
ample to grow all the wood needed
for the use of the people of this
country and for export trade in lum-
ber. and products manufactured from
lumber. IL the land can be kept at
work growing trees. Timber for tho
future Is simply a matter OF putting
idle land to work.
A surprising amount of reforesta-
tion has come about by chance, but
it is manifestly impossible to depend
on chance for adequate reforesta-
ton of much of our cut-over lands.
As lumber is a public utility, it
seems wise for the Federal govern
ment to acquire as many acres of
forest as possible and administer 1t
nationally; yet for the government
to acquire all the forest land in the
United States is impossible. Over
three -fourths of 1t Is now in private
hands. and a large proportion neces-
sarily must remain under private
ownership.
Every reasonable encouragement
should be given to the land owner
to grow timber on his own account
in the ways best suited to his own
purposes. but by some means or
other the public must see to it that
forest lands not needed for agri-
culture do not lie idle. The regu-
lations imposed must be reasonable
and equitable. Obviously the owner
Of the land cannct do it all. The
public must aid him in overcoming
the hazard of forest fires and must
recognize that the present methods
of taxing forests in many regions
are equivalent to taxing a farm crop
twice week during the growing
season.
To grow timber on the average
tract Of land. doing 1t as a public
utility. three things must be done.
The owner must be given the bene-
fit of moderate tax while his crop
of timber is being grown. II must
be protected from forest fires due
to the negligence of his neighbor
or the negligence OF the community.
and he must be required to employ
sufficient safeguards in the way his
timber Is cut, his slashings dis
posed of. and fire danger avoided
to actually reforest the land.