The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1924-11-20
PREVENTION OF
FOREST Loss
CITED
Agriculture Department Off
oiaIs Tell Conference Waste
Can Be Cut
~ InIernatIonaI News servIee.

BY International News Service.
Research by various agencies OF
the Department OF Agriculture has
uncovered large preventable losses,
aggregating between one.third and
one.fourth Of the present drain
upon American forests, and has
developed many methods Of re-
ducing or eliminating these losses,
Acting Secretary OF Agriculture
Gore today told the National Con-
ference on Utilization of Forest
Products.
1.-THE Government wants to see
more OF this knowledge put into
everyday use," Gore said. SIT IL
knowledge of the sort that will not
only repay the public but win re-
pay the user"
late Secretary Of Agriculture Wal
program for the elimination OF
waste and the conservation OF the
timber resources Of the country.
Several hundred delegates repre-
senting the key industries of the
country, Including lumber, mines.
railroads, pulp and paper and auto
mobiles.
Potential Addition.
1.-THE purpose OF this conference"
Gore added, supplements the pro-
gram of timber growing and timber
protection by recognizing in timber
saving an enormous potential addi.
ton to our supply of forest.grown
materials in terms of economic
service. Drawn from many diverse
groups and occupations. the mem
bers Of the conference have at the
present moment q single united In.
terest-the interest of timber saw
ing"
w. B. Greeley, chief of. the United
States Forest Service. pointed out
that the United States Is the first
country where the exhaustion Of
timber in one section could be
readily met by the cutting of for
ests 1000 miles distant.
Our transportation system has
largely concealed the ultimate out
come of the exhaustion of old
growth timber" Greeley said.
Because of our transportation
system we have practically pooled
all Of the old growth stumpage in
the United States and maintained
our enormous use of forest products
with no other i'll effect, from tho
standpoint of current consumption,
than higher freight bills. From
many standpoints this is a national
blessing. On the other hand, It is
dangerous because it permits prac.
tically a. nationwide depletion of
high quality timber before any
serious local effects, in any part
of the country, may be experienced?
We are in danger of coming up
short, almost overnight, against a
depletion of virgin timber so Sc
rtous as to cause disastrous public
and industrial consequences"
Decay Is Drain.
Greeley. pointed out that decay
in standing timber, In stored logs.
pulpwood. wood pulp and lumber,
and of such products as structural
lumber railroad ties. pole and mine
timbers constitutes one of the
greatest drains upon the timber
resources of the United, States.
Much of this loss is unavoidable.
''On the other hand" he added.
'preventable decay probably de.
stroys enough wood annually in the
United States to build q city for q
million people,"
He said that estimates indicate
the pulp and paper industry in
this country must now absorb into
its cost of production not less than
81, 000, 900 annually, lost through
the decay Of stored pulp and pulp
be prevented at a comparatively
slight outlay for better methods OF
storage, including simple treat
ments with fungicides."