Evening star., 1924-10-04
WHAT TREES MEAN
TO THE POPULACE
Charles Lathrop Pack Says
Nation Must Be "Sold"
on Forestry.

How many trees can YOU be charged
with every year? Just what do trees
mean to you and what have they
meant to 100 years Of progress in the
United States?
More than trillion and one half
matches are used in the United States
every year. The world output costs
$20o,000,000 annually, and means
total of four trillion, six hundred and
fifty million matches. Eight million
tons of paper, four times the amount
of 25 years ago, are consumed in the
United States every year. A billion
lead pencils are manufactured every
year. Wood for them is scarce.
Citing these figures. Charles Lath-
rop Pack, president of the American
Tree Association of Washington,
d. c., in an address before the New
England Forestry Conference a..
Peterboro. n. H., urged upon the del
egates the Importance of selling for
estry" to the man who uses these
things.
Vital Economic Problem.
Foresters, Mr.. Peck declared, must
get the facts to the public. They
must present them so that the peo-
pie may understand them. They
must sell the man in the street and
mentals of the immense and vital
economic problem in simple terms Of
protection and conservation.
'fou gentlemen know and know,
and those actively interested in the
forests know the facts" Mr. Pack
said. we know that there are more
than eighty million idle acres, assests
instead of liabilities We know what
lnroadS are being made into what re-
mains OF our virgin timber. We cher
ish no illusions about the economic
problems caused by the dislocation Of
supply coupled with high transporta-
ton costs. We realize that every
effort must be bent to achieving com
piete an efficient utilization of our
remaining timber; to preserving tim
Der that goes into buildings, posts.
and railroad ties, and thousands of
other things: to keeping fire from de-
stroying valuable mature trees and
equally valuable young growth.
les, We know all these things, but
we must seek every means at our
command to spread it We mus,
translate it into terms which the
man in the office, in the factory, and
behind the plow can grasp. The edi-
tors VINO use SO much of the eight
million tons of paper every year are
doing great work
Consumption of Matches,
Take the outstanding figures
gathered by the National City Bank
OF New York on the outturn and con-
sumption of matches. They find that
the worlds supply of aspen and white
pine is called upon every year to sup
ply four trillion. six hundred seventy
ion oe D,,a1n; matnhss six hundred NJ and fifty mil
we use more than a trillion and one
half every year. We produce about
one-third of the total world supply.
tremendous industry dependent
upon plentiful supply of wood, and
an economic asset for capital and
labor. We must sell the idea to the
people that if they are to have match
eS on the one hand and the industrial
benefit on the other. they must have
the forests to support the match in
duStry.
| '1n a quarter of Gentry the
American requirements for paper
have Quadrupled. Eight million tons
a year are needed to supply the an
nual demand. This is greater than
all the other countries of the world
combined. 1t is the natural out
growth, of course, of our multitudin-
ously-paged newspapers and our
enormous advertising industry.
Yes, we must sell forestry. We
have made much progress. Our first
real triumph, I feel, is the McNary-
Clarke bill We have sold forestry
to Congress. But we must go on
Selling The McNary Clarke law is
a groundwork and foundation. We
must go on to build the superstruc-
ture. Each State must pass co-opera-
tive legislation.