Evening star., 1924-11-07

The exhaustion Of Americas forest
supplies is familiar topic, and many
solutions of the problem have been
offered by statesmen and forestry
students. They cover plans for re-
forestation OF denuded areas both
through Federal and State aid, not
only as to pub1: lands, but also pri-
vate, cut-over holdings Now comes
an effort from a standpoint which Is
not so hackneyed-a study as to how
the waste of timber by the lumber
mills, tho factoriW, the paper mills
and the public generally may be cur
tailed The annual wastage Is In
credibly enormous
Shortly before his death Secretary
Wallace Of the Department Of ,Agri-
culture called conference upon
Wood Waste Prevention" to be held
in the National Museum November
10 and 20. This has been confirmed
by Acting Secretary Gore, and prepa-
rations, under. the direction Of the
Bureau Of Forestry, indicate that the
conference will be ono of the most
important that have been held this
year.
In the official agenda Of tho con-
ference is the following statement:
I'm addition to the drain Of 22.4
billion cubic feet, there Is . waste In
the forest itself, from fire. decay. &n-
sect attack and windfall OF about
"a billion cubic feet.
X 4 +
TT Is obvious that II the present
rate of drain continues unrelieved, and
If there were no growth increment
the nations entire stand OF timber
would be wiped out in a comparative
ly few years-the saw timber In
about 371s years, and the cordwood
in about % years.
1.-The rate Of drain is not likely to
decrease; in fact economic studies
our per capita consumption of wood
is declining, our wood requirements
will increase from year to year with
the increase Of population"
While the time limit for exhaus-
ton is estimated IS nearly four
decades-thoush other estimates put
the limit at half that period-the .
practical consideration Is that within
fifteen years. the nearby lumber will
be gone. ana tho only remaining sup
plies will come from the Far West,
railroads that tho cost will become
prohibitive except for extreme needs.
Every State except Oregon. Washing-
ton and Idaho imports lumber. Origi-
nally the territory east Of the Mis-
sisSippi River contained 6s1 million
acres of forest; now only 68 million
acres are left. West OF tho great
plains there were 1908 million acres
Of forests; now there remain only II
million acves, and much Of that 10
distant from railroads, and in noun
tain regions.
4 + y y
1t is estimated that II the economies
in the handling and use OF lumber,
which are already demonstrated ~
practical. were put into general pfae-
tice, about two-ninths OF the present
drain on forests would be eliminated.
conferences as the forthcoming meet
ing will add another two-ninths to
the saving.
For example: A railroad track re-
auires 2,S40 ties per mile. Untreated
with preservatives, the ties last only
Ave years, so it is necessary to re-
place an average Of 52S ties per mile
annually. II the ties are treated with
preservative, the operation makes far
less labor than that labor required to
replace the rotten ties annually, and
the treated ties last fifteen years. The
annual need, therefore, is 17S ties
per mile: and 32S ties arc saved. One
tree does tho work Of three, aside
from the saving Of labor.
Similar wAstags occurs In build
ingS, and in All manufacturing.
THIS wastage Is out OF all proper