Bogalusa enterprise and American. (Bogalusa, La.) 1918-19??, 1922-08-31

i ne lOAAO" iAtt8 a LANAC "~~D S--~
essay of the Boys Essay Contest con,
Quoted by Louisiana Department OF
Conservation.
The BOYS Forestry Club work and
the essay contest this year are do
ing a great deal toward creating the
proper sentiment and appreciation on
the part of the general public toward
forestry.
This article is being published in
full in this issue of The Enterprise
and will prove interesting reading:
at is characteristic Of human ma
ture for each of US to possess GER
tain degree of selfishness; it IS nat
uraI for US to leave all worry and
perplexity to the other person. In
every phase of life does this trait
stand evident. With out govern
mental affairs in general, with re-
gard to conservation of our natural
resources in particular, are we apt
to consider it all someone else's al
fair. This is wrong! The country
belongs to Us, SO why should we leave
the responsibility of everything to
only few men? In the processes
of extracting oil and gas, in the MIN
ing Of coal and in the operation OF
our fisheries, immense quantities are
wasted and a great loss occurs; TOR
every natural product there is an eX-
travagant and avoidable loss. And
no where has the waste been greater
than with our forests, and probably
no where is the indifference OF pub
lie opinion to this waste greater than
i'm cur own section Of ST. Tammany.
The forests. more or less, are re-
sources Of wealth 20 almost every
section Of our state. Because of tins
fart. every one Of us should assist
in the preservation Of forests. There
are many destructive forces at work
against them, but none which involves
more loss than fire. st. Tammany IS
situated in the heart Of the lOng-leat
pine section. Statistics show that
these districts suffer more from fire
than any other. How many persons
in our vicinity have passed along
large area of timberland covered with
smoldering fires? How many Of these
have done anything to prevent its
spread? Each has probably thought
along this line, That is not my land:
] do not know to whom it belongs,
or at the best, 1T is my nelghbor,s
forest: what business have l to med
in nv neighbours affairs?' Surely
this is almost a criminal attitude. II
we carefully consider conditions, we
must conclude that directly or indi-
rectly, the welfare of our brothers
forests concerns each of US individ-
ually.
aside from her lumber, st. Tam
many cannot just rank as a produc-
tive section of the state. Agricul-
tural work is very limited. In all, we
have only $4,000 acres of farm land
against a total acreage Of 579, 900.
Again, the live stock industry has not
in st. Tammany, for here
it has generally proved to be loss to
both large and small owners of cattle.
Now if neither agriculture or live
stock is developed, it is necessary to
the prosperity of the community that
there be some other important indus
try; up to this time, lumber has been
the basis for the one line Of indus
triese. In the parish are 100000 /
acres of virgin timber, the largest
part of this in long-leaf pines; but
this is a fast vanishing asset, for
each year sees a decrease. Because
Of constantly changing conditions, ac-
curate estimates of the timber wealth .
of the parish are hard to obtain; the !
assessment for 1921 shows q total .
valuation of S16,728,737. Of this
wealth, more than one-fourth, or S4,-
625, 342.00, is in timber lands and
lumber industries; but our parish as
sesscr tells US that the 1922 valuation
will be quite different, because of the
removal of timber. AS virgin timber
decreases, the closing down of mills,
he abandonment of turpentine stills
md kindred industries are inevitable.
Many people Of st. Tammany are
employed at work in sawmills. For
st destruction will result in making
'ormerly busy towns shrink rapidly,
men move away, stores close, homes
ire deserted and schools drop steadily
n attendance. Already men who !
AVE spent years in the lumber in
lustry are either leaving our section,
II else quitting this Business ion ]
ONE other occupation, because theyIl
oresee a short life for it. ;
"Truly a critical situation is being {
aced in the parish of St. Tammany,
argely due to the decrease of the {
industry. Four years ago, {
We had seventy-two mills engaged in l
at present there are only {
tx Of any Importance. While some {
f this change may be due to the {
fter-war depression, still the situa- I
ion is alarming. Imagine such con-
itinns, an average decrease of about
eventeen mills each year. St. Tam /
lany has a total of $4,000 acres; {
arely one-fifth of this amount is in y
landing forests; the cut-over land 7
) 100000 acres; the agricultural f
lnds of the parish in actual cultiva- t
on are but two and one-half per t
emit of the total acreage; the re- q
lainder is in waste lands. Esti- Z
rates as to the life of the present a
1rests Of st. Tammany, aside from h
hose owned by the Great Southern r
lumber Company (they claim that '
leir forests will never disappear be- f
luse of right methods of cutting) v
ffer. Some individuals state that s
thin ten or twelve years the for b
4 20 - aVT+%iv,rr