Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-16
PRESIDENT TURNS
TO SAVING FORESTS
Forming of Fact Finding
Commission Like That on
Oil Considered.
by FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.


to forestry as the next step in hi
program for conservation of natural re
sources. Preliminary though is beini
given to the formation Of fact-find
ing commission, similar to the ont
which has just been looking into TIT
Western oil situation. The situation
with which President Hoover desires
to come to grips is the steady AMI
alarming depletion of American forests
These are vanishing at a rate, accord
ing to the Nations foremost tinnbei
authorities, which spells certain ane
relatively early economic disaster un'
less drastically checked. Mr.. Hoover
considers constructive" action by the
Government to that end to be one o.
the most urgent tasks confronting him
Shortly after his Inauguration the
President had a protracted conference
with former Gov Clifford Pinchot OF
Pennsylvania. Their confab was an
event in itself, for the one-time CHIEF
forester OF the United States and Mr.
Hoover have not ranked as political
friends during the past 10 years. On
the eve of departure for his South Sea
Islands expedition, Pinchot visited the
White House to discuss the forestry
crisis. Whether the interview was
sought by the Pennsylvania, or in
stigated by the President, is not def
1nitely known. They not only went
over InG AI1GEUCHu SlJudJAOI1s Out Ccih
vasSed the project for world forestry
congress, which is in process of ar
rangement.
Forests Are Disappearing.
Gov. Pinchot told Mr.. Hoover that
American forests are disappearing at e
pace which involves most serious dan
ger to the future prosperity of the
country, and declared that little -
that counts ic hoinQ done
about it."
Just before the close of the Seventeen
Congress, Senator Arthur Capper, Re-
publican, OF Kansas, secured Senate
assent to the issuance as a public
document of "DeforeSted America" a
concise and authentic statement of the
present forest situation in the United
States. The author of the statement is
Mai. George p Ahern, u. S. A., re-
tired, who until the outbreak of the
World War was chief of the Philippine
Forest Service, which ne organized in
1900. During the war, Maj. Ahern was
secretary of the Army War College.
Few Americans know forestry, either at
home ore abroad. 80 thoroughly as this
veteran OF our Indian wars.
What are the salient facts in
Americas forest Situation?" this writer
asked Mai. Ahern.
just THESE, ne TCpIltQ. IlaI IilC
forests of the United States are being
Systematically. and ruthlessly stripped
on scale which Tin the words of For
ester Greeley overnight could threat
en- the country with the suddenness OF
an economic crisis / have no heSita-
ton in saying that saving our forests
and the lumber industry dependent
upon them is even more important and
more complicated than Mississippi
flood control, while every bit as urgent.
Out of s22,000.0o0 acres of virgin for
est only about one-eighth remains.
Half OF that remainder. roughly
speaking, IS held by the Government
and is safe from devastation. The rest
is being cut and burned with terrible
speed. There is nowhere in the world
anything like sufficient supply Of the
kinds Of timber we use to take the place
of what we are deliberately destroying
Forest Devastation Story.
an Deforested America 1 have set
down a plain tale of facts. 1t is a
moving story of forest devastation,
abandoned towns, and the closing down
of hundreds of wood-using industries
as the centers of lumber production
shift from the Northeast to the Lake
States, to the South, and finally to the
last stand in the Pacific Northwest. The
facts tell OF the continued and rapid
disappearance Of our remaining privately
owned forests, on which we rely today
for 81 per cent of our wood needs"
Where lies the basic cause of this
state of affairs?" Maj. Ahern was in
Vited to explain.
THE root of our troubles" he said,
ais to be found in destructive logging
practice, unregulated slash. and the ac-
companying annihilating forest FIRE.
You ask why all this? Mainly because
n depressed lumber industry seeking
cheaper production adopts still higher
speed in its operations and in its effort
TO ward OF the threatening banker. AS
forest expert in the State of Wash
ington, Prof. B. P. kirkland puts it:
The lumber industry is almost de-
liberately destroying its own prosperity
by a frenzied rush toward liquidation
of the remaining timber holdings On
top of all this, the forest fire situation
grows steadily worse. We hear much
of attempts at fire control, but the
public doesn't know that the bulk of
protection is for standing merchantable
timber, logs and equipment, and not for
cut-over land, our main reliance for
future forest crops.
I'm 1919 the annual drain on our
forest resources was estimated at four
times the annual growth. If the esti-
mate in 1919 even Appropriated the
correct figure, this figure for today is
much too small in the face of the rapid
stock. 1t is gratifying to hear that
President Hoover Is thoroughly alive
10 the situation and considering con-
stTuctive steps for meeting 1t. AS a
Californian, he doubtless knows that
his own State annually consumes more
lumber than it produces. Even our
greatest lumber States are beginning
to import more and more wood to meet
their own needs In the not distant
future even the Pacific Coast States,
once profitable exporters Of lumber, will
be required to retain their full produce
ton"
Forest Crisis Approach.
Mai. Ahern evidently believes that
President Hoovers fact-finding program
is the altogether proper way of APP
preaching the forest crisis" and COM
batting 1t before it's too late. In my
judgment" Maj Ahern explains, "the
procedure for the Government would
be to call together all the persons most
concerned, including the tax assessor.
the forester. the lumberman, the legis-
lator and the budget director, lay the
facts on the table and direct them to
work out q solution. We could do worse
than study and emulate the smooth
working national forest program Of a
country like Sweden. Forest conserva-
ton has never succeeded In any coun-
try until the strong arm of the gov
eminent was used
No matter how much private forest
interests may be inclined to howl, a real
crisis Is here which demands an agrees
sive Federal attitude and such legislation
rs may be necessary to compel certain
operators TO do what good sense and the
public interest should long ago have i'm.
PEELED them to do. AS a soldier, I an