S D II A47 Class _„O^L)_ \'\'C-j FORESTRY HEARINGS BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE '1,5. Cov.<,,^cc, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SIXTY-SIXTH CONGRESS THIRD SESSION ON H. R. 15327 (BY MR. SNELL) January 26 and 27, 1921 WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 52002 1921 COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE. House of Representatives. GILBERT N. HAUGEN, Iowa, Chairman. JAMES c. Mclaughlin, Michigan. WILLIAM W. WILSON, Illinois. CHARLES B. WARD, New York. WILLIAM B. McKINLEY, Illinois. ELI.TAH C. HUTCHINSON, New Jersey. FRED S. PURNELL, Indiana. EDWARD VOIGT, Wisconsin. MELVIN O. Mclaughlin, Nebraska. CxiRL W. RIDDICK, Montana. J. N. TINCHER, Kansas. WILLIS J. HULINGS, Pennsylvania. J. KUHIO KALANIANAOLE, Hawaii. GORDON LEE, Georgia. EZEKIEL S. CANDLER, Mississippi. THOMAS L. RUBEY, Missouri. JAMES YOUNG, Texas. HENDERSON M. JACOWAY, Arkansas. .lOHN V. LESHER, Penn.sylvania. JOHN W. RAINEY, Illinois. L. G. HAUGK.f, Clerk. LlBfvARY OF CONGRESS t^ECEIViD DOOUMeNTS E^lVidlON Sd /I .A 41 CONTENTS. Statement of — Page. Hon. B. H. Enell 1 Col. W. B. Greeley (three statements) 6,34,50 Alfred Gaskill 12 E. T. Allen 14 Gifforcl Pinchot 25 R. ,S. Kellogg (two statements) 38,42 Col. H. S. Graves (two statements) 37,46 E. H. Baker 39 D. L. Goodwillie 40 G. W. Sisson 42 L. F. Kneipp 43 C. L. Pack 45 E. M. Parsonage 49 J. R. Williams, jr 52 E. A. Sherman 53 E. E. Carter 55 P. W. Ayres ,56 W. L. Hall 56 in FORESTRY Committee ox Agriculture, House of Representati\te8, Wednesday, January 26, 1921. The committee met at 10 o'clock a. m., Hon. Gilbert N. Haiigen (chairman) presiding. The Chairman. The committee has been called this morning to give consideration to H. R. 15327, which provides for cooperation between the Federal Government, the States, and owners of timber- lands for adequate protection against forest fires, for reforestation of denuded lands, and so forth. Mr. Snell, we will hear you first this morning. STATEMENT OF HON. BERTRAND H. SNELL, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW YORK. Mr. Snell. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, we desire to engage your attention this morning in connection with H. R. 1532T, commonly referred to as the " Snell forestry bill." AVe have a great many people here from every part of the country who are much interested in this proposed legislation. They have come from long distances and desire to be heard at this time on this bill. For that reason I shall not take up much of the time of the committee, as I intend to in the near future, on the floor of the House, make a more extended explanation of the character, scope, and purpose of this legislation. I shall hand to the stenographer for record in the liearings a partial list of the men here and what they represent : l'K()(;l!A.M OF HEAK1X(; I'POX I H K SXKl.I. \\\\.\. 111. 1!. 1 .". .! -J 7 I . IntrodiK fori/ stiitevioit. — The sjivat i>uhli<' interest involved and the iieressity fur setting up a« soon as jtossihle a national forestry program will l»e discnssed by Representative Snell, the introducer of the hill. Mr. Snell will also take charge of the hearing and introduce the genllenien who will discuss the vaiious sections. Sectionfi J and 2. — William B. Greeley, Chief Forester of the Ignited States. will discuss the proposed legislation from the viewpoint of the Uiitional service. Mr. Alfred Gaskill, State forestei' of New .Jersey, will speak from the view- point of the State forestr.v deiiaitment. ]\Ir. E. T. Allen, representing the Western Forestry Conservation Association and the National T^umher Manufacturers' Association, will discuss the proposed legislation from the practical view])oint of the owners of timberland and the manufacturers of lumber. F^efCtion 3. — Will be discussed by K. S. Kellogg, of New Vork. chaii'man of the National P^orestry Program Committee. Section 5.- — Will be discussed by E. W. McCuUough. reiiresenting the .Associa- tion of Wood Using Industries. Section 6. — Will be discussed by E. E. Carter, assistant forester in the United States Forest Service. 1 2 FORESTRY. Sections 7 and 8. — Will be discussed by Willi;nii L. Hall, of Chicago, formerly assistant forester in charge of acquisition of forest lands under the Weeks's law, and Philip W. Ayres, forester of the Society for the Protection of New Hamp- shire Forests. Section 9. — Will be discussed by E. A. Sherman, associate forester of the United States Forest Service. Sections 10 tn 12. — Will be discussed by L. F. Kneipp, assistant forester in the United States Forest Service. Tlie interests of the general public in the proposed legislation will l)e pre- sented by : Elbert H. Baker, publisher of the Cleveland (Ohio) Plain Dealer and chair- man of the committee on forest resources of the American Newspaper Pul)lishers' Association. D. L. Goodwillie, of Chicago. Charles Lathrop Pack, pi*esident of the American Forestry Association. J. R;iudall Williams, chairman of the forestry committee of the National Wholesale Lumber Dealers' Association. Col. Henry S. Graves, former Chief Forester of the United States. George W. Sisson, jr., of Potsdam, N. Y., president, American Paper and Pulp Association. In order to further facilitate the time of the committee, we have divided up our witnesses and assigned to each one a certain section of the bill, and each man, as far as possible, will confine himself to that particular section to wdiich he is addressing himself. It also might be well for me at this point to enumerate to the com- mittee the main provisions of the bill that will be amplified later by the gentlemen appearing in the interests of the legislation. The first two sections are of chief importance at this time. In the main they propose a method of Federal cooperation with the States and individual landow'ners which, in my judgment, constitute the most effective and constitutional method of getting into operation a com2)rehensive national forestry policy which outlines Federal, State, and private responsibility in the protection and management of all forest land. The third directs a sur\'ey of forest resources and re^ time to talk about forest growing. The very shortage which frightens us is the one thing to accomplish its remedy. It is also reason for dealing with it in a businesslike way ; because if we do not now make it feasible to hold forest land and manage it wisely on an extensive scale and at the lowest possible cost, this 16 P^ORESTRY. omission will be reflected both in shortage and in the high prices necessary to repay high costs. Now, you must pardon me if I seem to wander from this bill into the field of forest economics. I do so only to contribute the lum- berman's viewpoint so that you may judge the effect upon him of this bill or any bill, and of the sincerity of his interest in it. He sums it all up about as follows : Forest growing is at best a business of slow and small returns, which appeals little except as a means of insuring raw material affording a legitimate profit through manufacture. Hence, he sees it confined as a private enterprise to favorable areas, tributary to a permanent manufacturing business. Thus he sees it dependent also on economic soundness in the entire lumber industry, based on serv- ice to the community which is recognized as useful, not destructive, and entitled to a return neither greater nor less than that justly accorded otlier forms of endeavor. Otherw^ise, he would be foolish not to abandon it. Next, as a matter of common sense and solvency, he thinks forest growing must have reasonable protection of the investment against loss by fire, and that, as in all countries where forestry is practiced, taxation of the crop for so long a period must not be uncertain and confiscatory. As a rule he has not these assurances and can not pro- vide them for himself. They require State' legislation and public support. Finally, he senses that public interest in the land he can not afford to keep will inspire some effort to regulate the condition in which he leaves it. He feels that this involves difficult questions that should be solved competently, and not in ignorance or prejudice, and that conditions seem to be lacking for solving them competently. In other words, we have no policy. Thus, we have a set of what we might call essential conditions which must be provided by the public, but which have not as yet been provided. One reason, perhaps, is that the public lacks assur- ance that advantage will not be taken of it by the selfish lumber- man, with no reciprocal benefits of forest perpetuation. It should not be difficult to provide this, but unfortunately there is a tendency to magnify the difficulty. Ill-informed advisers on both sides have contributed to this, arguing an inherent hostility between private and public interest, resulting on the one hand in demand for punitive regulation of the industry w'hich disregards entirely its governing economic conditions, and, on the other hand, an unreasoning oppo- sition to any regulation because impossible forms have been dis- cussed. Such a deadlock is vicious in theory and effect. There can be no solution based on a warfare which disregards either interest. No sane community would place impracticable restrictions upon one of its chief sustaining industries and the very one required to couA'ert into usable form the particular resource at issue. No sane industry would willingly destroy its source of raw material or defy public interest and j^ower which can penalize it in countless ways. In all essentials, if not in all undetermined details of method, the interest in forest perpetuation is absolutely mutual. The first of these essen- tials is constructive cooperation. FORESTRY. 1 7 As we see it, this bill seeks to break the deadlock Avhich has so long existed, not only between the industry and the public but also between the States and the Federal Government, It proposes to define and carry out the Government's responsibilities, at the same time as- sisting States and individuals to determine theirs. It iuA^okes our constitutional spirit of cooperation between all these agencies, giving each due consideration, utilizing the peculiar facilities of each, and making the most effective appeal to each. It tends equally to awaken and guide the public interest which inevitably must deter- mine the final result. We are not afraid of such a process. The American people have always been fair when they have known all the facts. Given means by which these can be arrived at, with all sides heard, and with corre- lation by competent, impartial Federal agency, and the general principles of a just and effective national policy will certainly be determined. Given also means by which these are localized, because forestry is a local matter very largely, in the same democratic man- ner and as suited to the needs and conditions of each forest region, and the application is not going to be impracticable, and we are not afraid of it. It seems to us the bill does exactly this thing. We believe that when all the facts are knawn and the maximum of voluntary par- ticipation is inspired, it will be found that our forest problem is in the main solved. But if any regulatory steps are necessary to assure equitable participation by lumbermen in this movement, then we must expect them to be taken. We think they will be more fairly taken and with less danger of ignorance or prejudice or injustice, than under any alternate system of which we can conceive, either leaving the subject to uncorrelated State action or attempting con- trol by the Government without recognizing that we still remain under the possibly conflicting authority of the State. We believe that regulatory steps must harmonize with our fire and tax condi- tions, as Mr. Greeley has set forth. We commend the sanity of this bill in recognizing the elemental importance of the fire problem. To the man from the woods all other forest proposals seem like putting the cart before the horse while we are burning up not only the forests we have but also the millions of acres of natural reproduction which will come much nearer than is realized to meeting the entire need, if protected. TTntil we get on top of this problem not much else is worth while, and it calls for the best all of us can give it. As a concluding argument, I want to answer a possible feeling that this bill is not decisive ; that it is experimental. It does not seem so to lumbermen or to State officials or to Federal officials out West where the national forest system has existed and has brought us into the same sort of contact, generally, that this bill anticipates. I will tell you the story of this and then I am through. About 15 years ago a group of Idaho lumbermen decided it was better to cooperate in protecting their land than to do it inde- pendently. So they organized a cooperative patrol for which each paid at the same rate according to their acreage. Soon there were four such organizations in Idalio. with the State also a member, paying similarly on its grant land and giving police power to the 18 rOEESTRY. field forces. Washinoton then followed with a similar organiza- tion covering all the big fir country in the State of Washington. Mr. aicLALGHLiN of Michigan. Was that under State laws? Mr. Allen. Yes, sir. These five pioneer organizations then estab- lished the Western Forestry and Conservation Association, which I represent, as a sort of grand lodge or clearing house to perfect fire methods, to extend this system over more land, and to get better cooperation between the State, Federal, and private agencies. State and Federal officials were taken in. serving on its committees. Agree- ments were made by which the three agencies — State, Federal, and private — divided areas and responsibilities where that was best or pooled them where that was best. This worked so well that other similar organizations were created in Montana, Oregon, and California until soon there were 30 of them, covering virtually all the private forests of the whole North- west from Montana tonorthern California, covering one-fourth of the Nation's forest resources, with trained forces, trails, telephones, and lookouts, and publicity work to educate the public in care with tire. In every case they cooperated closely with the States and Govern- ment and jointly- they began to improve State fire laws. The State itself took general supervisory authority over the system and di- rected its police powder. The private owners contributed most of the funds. Under this situation in a few years we had a contributing private area of some lo.OOO.OOO acres, putting up from $500,000 to $1,000,000 a year for this work of fire protection, and toward that there was a State contribution of $85,000 and a Federal contribution of $25,000 a year for the joint system which the State supervised, but in which the Government had a voice, and to support which pri- vate owners sometimes paid nearly $1,000,000 to the public's little over $100,000. Bear in mind that these public contributions are nearly constant, being made by advance appropriation for a skeleton system. The private owners hold the sack, as it were, for all the balance required, according to the seasonal hazard. In bad years this reaches a tremendous sum. Bear in mind, also, that in all this assessment we pay on our cut-over lands just the same as we do on our timberlands. Obviously such a sj'stem makes the contributor interested in good fire protection and good fire laws. He was more insistent than any one else to ^-et them so he will not have to spend so much to fight fire. So lumbermen themselves went after laws controlling the fire hazard created by their industry; their slash disposal, patrols after locomotives, and what not. They also realize that fire starts anj^- where and runs anywhere, on their land on the other fellow's land and on the cut-over land and on timberland, so they had to protect it all, and the progressive, willing contributors did not want to carry the load for selfish owners who rode free. So in States like Oregon and Washington where ownership is most numerous (in Oregon alone there are 16,000 timber owners), laws were passed making pa- trol compulsory and every timber owner in the State has to bear his share, covering his cut-over land also where there is fire hazard. As a result we have a system which not only takes care of our merchantable timber better, I believe, than any State or Govern- FORESTRY. 19 ment does, because State or Government contributions to such work are restricted by preceding- appropriation, while we pay the bills as the season develops the need, and in bad years sometimes go to 20 or 30 cents an acre, but we also take care of a large proportion of all denuded and restocking land, whether it is ours or belongs on the public domain. Therefore we are getting reforestation which is verv gratifying. In the West natural reproduction is swift and sure if giA'en protection, which is therefore nine-tenths of the forestry problem. We would be glad to bear our fair share of protecting all such denuded land, because we want a second crop and want to keep fire out of the country, but without more help in a cooperative pre- ventive system, we do not feel we can, under our system of obliga- tion to fight every fire to a finish, extend this obligation to assessing our own land to any sum necessary to take care of anybody's land at any distance. I have described this cooperative movement in some detail for a munber of reasons. One is to show why we think the cooperative fire fund proposed by this bill is a good thing to encourage such systems elsewhere. Another is to show why its allotment can prop- erly recognize private effort compelled and supervised by State law. Thirdly, I want you to see that in no way are we trying to pass the burden of protecting our own timber to the Government. We will still do this and more. We advocate only that the Government do enough to represent its interest in protecting the reforestation from Avhich the consumer, not the lumberman of to-day, will be the bene- ficiary. Finally, I have tried to give you proof that where coopera- tion and intelligent policy assure its just and useful application, the lumberman does not oppose but rather helps invoke the police au- thority of the State to safeguard forest resources. We have found that the connnon interest in forest perpetuation carries us a long way when approached in the proper spirit; also that this process estab- lishes relations for the best settlement of those details on which our views may differ. We believe all national forest problems can be sohed in this way. We only ask that States and Government do their share as fully as they properly expect us to do our share. We think this bill fits us all. Mr. YoiGHT. Mr. Allen, are you in favor of any measure that will compel the owner of timber land to reforest ? Mr. Allen. That is a question which would have to be answered with some qualifications. I would say yes, if you ask whethei- I am in favor of some such measure. I believe there must be reciprocal obligations. If the public gives him a square deal, I think so; but I do not think you can compel him to stay in the business at a loss. I do think you can properly compel him, provided the cost is not ex- cessive and he has reciprocal help from the public, not to destroy the productive capacity of his land. Mr. VoiGT. You would favor measures that would compel the owner of timber land to cut his timber in such way as not to destroy the young timber that is coming on? Mr. Allen. Yes: if the cost of so doing is equitably distributed. It would seem to me that attem])ts at police power in this matter can be classified in three ways: First, regulations which prevent any- body from maintaining a menace to other people,- and carelessness 20 FORESTRY. with fire would be that. I think you can compel that of a man without comijensating: him. I think you can oro furtser and compel other tilings which are in the public interest provided the public equitably shares the bill. I do ndt think you can compel a man by law to constructively engage in putting money into the consumer's pocket. Thirdly, I^ think we maV have proposals which are im- practicable or unconstitutional. Of course, there are things that can be required of the private timber owner. For example, we ourselves require him to patrol and to burn his slash. Mr. VoiGT. This bill, if I read it correctly, does not compel the owner of timber land to do anything. Mr. Allen. Not under Federal authority. It assumes that with some Government subsidy and a great deal of Government education and correlation, the States themselves will exercise any necessary police authority. Mr. VoiGHT. If I read this bill correctly it does not compel the State to take any action which will compel the timber owner to do anything. Mr. Allen. Correct. I do not think it does. Mr. VoiGT. In other words, if the bill becomes a law it will spend the Government's money in a voluntary effort in which the coopera- tion of the interested timber owner can not be compelled ; am I right on that ? Mr. Allen. I should say it would depend partly on the policy of the department that spends the money, and I assume the department is not going to spend the money unless it thinks it is getting the results it wants in behalf of the Federal taxpayers. Mr. VoiGT. You are an officer of the National Lumber Manufac- turers' Association? Mr. Allen. Yes, sir. Mr. VoiGT. What office do you hold ? Mr. Allen. Their advisory forester. Mr. VoiGT. You spend most of your time here in Washington ? Mr. Allen. No, sir. Mr, VoiGT. You have spent considerable time here in Washington in the last three or four years ? Mr. Allen. I have spent considerable time here. I was asked to come here by the Council of National Defense to serve on the lumber committee. I was asked to come here by Commissioner Roper, Com- missioner of Internal Revenue, first, to occupy a position in the Treasury Department where they thought they needed some knowl- edge of timber matters, and when I did not care to do that I was asked to come to act in a measure to help them cooperate with timber owners. I have come here at other times on matters of this sort. Mr. VoiGT. Is this bill backed up by the lumber manufacturers of the country ? Mr. Allen. Yes ; to this extent : Lumber manufacturers of the country think this is a big problem that has got to be solved, and they tiiink this bill, or the proposal of the Forest Service which originated it, is the sort of thing they ought to back up. If the Federal Government proposes it, they are willing to back it up and stand by it. I can not speak for all the 30,000 of them, but so far as they have any collective voice they are back of this bill ; yes, sir. FORESTRY. 21 Mr, VoiGT. Did the lumber people of the country have a meetiiif]^ here recently to discuss this bill ? Mr. Allen. Here? Mr. VoiGT. Yes. Mr. Allen. Not that I know of. The history of the connection of the National Lumber Manufacturers' Association with this bill is very simple. Col. Graves, Col. Greeley's predecessor, wanted to talk to them about it, and they were invited to meet him on it and they did so and asked him what he wanted. He said they should appoint a committee and discuss it with him. They did so and the committee has discussed it with him and later with Col. Greeley. It listened to the artjuments of the Forest Service and they sounded pretty rea- sonable to us. so we thouo;ht it was our duty and to our advantage to get behind it, not to fight it, and we are behind it quite sincerely. Mr. McKiNLEY. Mr. Allen, is there not a law in Japan to the effect that if 3'ou cut a tree you have to plant two ? Mr. Allen. I give it up. Mr. McKinley. Do you not believe that woidd be a good law in this country ? Mr. Allen. No ; not necessarily. For example, in the State where I live they do not plant trees. The Government itself in the national forests does not plant trees. Mr. McKinley. That is, they let somebody else do it ? Mr. Allen. No, sir; there is natural reproduction. The profes- sional forester in the fir region, for example, where I come from, finds he gets reproduction by what he calls clean cutting, then burn- ing the ground over and letting it seed up. Mr. McKinley. What I mean by my question is, do you not be- lieve that when you, as a lumberman, clear the lumber off of a 640- acre section of land you ought to be required by law to start other trees there? Mr. Allen. No ; I do not go that far. I think, in the first place. v>e do not Iniow positively what land should be kept permanently in forest. Nobody would think that all the land that has been lumbered Mr. McKinley. Of course, nobody would think that now. Mr. Allen (continuing). From Plymouth Rock to Oregon should be, and we do not know where it should be.> Generally speaking, I think a great deal more land should be kept permanently produc- tive than is kept productive. I think the whole object will be reached more fully than lots of people think it will by adequate fire pro- tection. I think that goes a long way. Mr. McKinley. Your feeling then Mr. Allen. That is the first thing to do. Mr. McKinley. Your feeling then is that the owner of land should denude it of timber and then trust to the Lord and to the Government to get some more trees ; is that the idea ? Mr. Allen. No ; I would not say yes to that ; no, indeed. Mr. TiNCHER. In my case, there was a gentleman here from New Jersey who spoke for the Kansas forest this morning, and I do not believe I will ask you any questions, because I have only lived there 30 or 40 years, and I am going to trust New Jersey to properly represent our State on forests. If anybody cuts a tree in Kansas 22 FORESTRY. the feelino- out there is that he ought to be shot instead of being required to plant two trees. Mr. Allen. Mr. Chairman, before I sit down, in view of the tenor of some of the questions I have been asked, I would like to make this short explanation. The Western Forestry and Conserva- tion Association, which I represent and which pays me my salary absolutely — I do not get a dollar from anybody else — has for 11 years existed for the purpose and for the only purpose of bringing about such things as the State, the timber owner, and the Federal Government equally want and which is to their mutual interest. If there are any other jobs that lumbermen want done in the way of a tariff or reciprocal demurrage, or anything of that sort, we do not touch it. We have always scrupulously engaged only in such projects and indorsed only such things as those in which we could have a mutual interest ; that is, the Federal Government, the private owner, and the State, and on no other function have I ever been in Wash- ington. Mr. VoiGT. Did I understand you to say you had been in the •employ of the Government for the last three or four years? Mr. Allen. No, sir; I was in the employ of the Forest Service up to the year 1909, I think it was, barring a period when I was recom- mended by Mr. Pinchot to be State forester of California. Within the last 11 years I have been asked here at times in the capacity I have just tried to describe, that of a neutral expert on forestry mat- ters, to act in a sort of Col. House capacity between the two interests. I have come sometimes at the instigation of my own judgment and occasionally at the invitation of governmental departments, including the Treasury Department and the Forest Service. Mr. McKiNLEY. Did you tell them about the spruce, Mr. Allen? Mr. Allen. I tried to, and they would not listen to me. They thought they would rather have the Army do it. They sent me out West for that purpose, the War Industries Board did, to start the sj^ruce work, and I lasted about one month, because I could not get along with the War Department. The Chairman. How long does it take to grow a merchantable tree ? Mr. Allen. It depends on the tree and the region and the size. The Chairman. I said a merchantable tree. Mr. Allen. Well, merchantable standards vary, but, roughly, I would say you would not expect to get much anywhere under 40 or 50 years, and more probably 60 or 70 years. The Chairman. Is it not estimated at 130 j'^ears ? Col. Greeley. One hundred and thirty years would produce large growth timber, but you can produce pulp wood in 25 years and box lumber in 40 years, depending upon the quality of the product. The Chairman. Pine for lumber and saAving? Col. Greeley. For rough construction lumlier, 50 or 60 years, sir. The Chairman. I believe I have noticed some estimate of 130 years. What did that have reference to ? Col. Greeley. The very high-grade material, like the high-grade soft pine or high-grade hardwoods. The Chairman. Have you any estimates as to the cost of producing merchantable timber ? FORESTEY. 23 Mr. AixEN. That, sir, would be like estiniatinend indirectly, if not dir(>ctly, on an increased production of wood, and, therefore, on the making of a prac- tical forestry program. Suffice it to say that never in the history of building has there been a greater demand for homes and houses than there is to-day. This week the housing interests ;n-e holding a conference in Washington to study and, if possible, solve the house and home building question. But repre- senting my club, I come before you from a much broader standpoint than that of any personal interest. In our city we ai;e aroused to the necessity of the occasion. We are studying forestry seriously, hoping by a series of conferences and addresses by Col. W. B. Greeley, the chief forester, and others to enlighten and educate our people in the Central West on the subject and show them the importance of cooperation and immediate action. We will have Col. Greeley liefore our Chicago Association of Commerce, the Union League Club. Chicago University, Northwestern University ; and with him we will spread the gospel of forestry by pictures, papers, and addresses through our schools, and, with the cooperation of the press, we expect to tie up the ends so that Illinois and possi- bly other near-by States as a result will make forestry not only possible but workable with'n the State. I am told there are 81,000 000 acres of land that is untillable in our country. Surely this land should be at work. A recent State survey of Illinois shows that my State has nearly 6,000,000 acres of land, none of it good tillable land, and a large part of it fit oidy for and should be used for reforesting. This idle land, whether in Illinois or elsewhere, is a burden., It is like the unruly or incorrigible boy in your community. He is a liability until you set 42 FORESTRY. him right. Why not put this idle hiiul to work at once and use it for wliat it is best adapted? This recent survey in Illinois not only goes extensively into- this subject of idle land but urges that they be put to use immediately. At present they are a lialiility ; use thenr in reforesting and we turn a burden, a liability, into an asset. Situated as we are in the Central West and bringing our lumber into that territory for 2,000 miles, more or less, we are especially with the advanced freight rates, paying in transportation a penalty that alone is a fearful tax on the consumer and the community — a tax that could better be used within the State to promote forestry and the insuring of a supply of lumber. My club is anxious to create this sentim'ent in making forestry prac- ticable in Illinois and the other neigliboring States by this campaign of educa- tion outlined above. W^ith my club, I am definitely interested in the Snell bill, as are these other organizations I represent. They favor it and indorse it fully. We consider the Snell bill the first and only bill di-afted that looks workable or practicable. While we are neither altruists nor idealists, I feel we must be alert to tlie situation. We must see the immediate necessity of action. There is still time to create great forests in Wisconsin, Michigan, and even in Illinoi-s, and in many other States by the use of these nontillable lands and by the State taking over lands that may revert to it for nonpayment of taxes, as well as the Federal Government by purchase of lands. Less-favored countries in Euroiie long ago had this vision of duty as well as opportunity and are doing the job successfully. Should we not at once begin to provide for those who follow us and who should enjoy not oidy the forests as forests but who will need the products of the forests as commodities? We hear much of the ultimate consumer, and my plea this morning is for immediate action on this or some equally good forestry measure as a duty if not an obligation to the ultimate consumer down the line. I beg of you, gentlemen, not only that our present timber, whether in national or in individual holdings, be amply safe- guarded but protected from lire and all public hazard ; that we see the situation seriously, unselfishly, and by cooperation with the Federal Government our States may be urged to provide wood and lumber through the use of nontillable lands for forestry purposes. Our obligation is apparent ; our duty is innnediate. Let us no longei- think forestry and theorize on economics, but let us make forestry, through the vrorkin-; • of this Snell bill, practical and immediately so. In conclusion, I quote from The Americas, a magazine published by the National City Bank of New York, the following: " This is a tremendously big and important national problem. It includes almost every factor that bears on great economic questions. The rights of the public and of private holders are intertwined at every point, and the only abso- lutely certain statement to be made about it is that the present policy is destruc- tive to the bes't interests of the country and nnist be improved. Some questions in national economy are subject to almost indefinite postponement. The forestry problem is not one of them." I thank you very much, gentlemen. STATEMENT OF GEORGE W. SISSON, EEPKESENTING THE AMERICAN PAPER AND PULP ASSOCIATION. The American Paper and Pulp Association, the parent association of the paper industry in the United States, desires to be recorded in favor of the Snell forestry bill, not alone because the paper industry is dependent for its future existence on a continuous supply of raw material from the forests, but because this association believes it best for the Nation as a whole. While in the last analysis the problem of the paper supply is the problem of the timber supply, it would be noted that the manufacture of paper is but one of the many methods of forest utilization and that the total demand for timber for other purposes exceeds many times that for the making of paper, this industry using only about 8 per cent of the annual cut of timber. The paper industry touches so closely the daily lives of the people and reaches such a condition of indispensability in our modern life that we must approach the problems of its raw material supply with a strong consideration for the public interest involved and with a determination that our efforts in the interests of the public shall be so wisely directed that no minor consideration or controversial attitude may interfere with a successful result. In this spirit the American Paper and Pulp Association approves the policy now proposed because it appears to be a fair adjustment of the respective rights of the timberland owner, the manufacturer, the converter, and consumer of forest products, which latter is the general public. rOEESTRY. 43 The relation of the paper industry to forestry is being daily realized as more and more vital. With the great sums involved in paper manufacturing plant investments, the paper industry is willing to do more than its share toward providing a future supply of raw material. But the public must do its part- protect its own forests from losses by fire and must not impose upon the timber- land owner such conditions of taxation and operation that his only salvation is deforestation. All he asks is a chance to reforest. We believe this bill properly apportions the task between Federal and State Governments and private owner. Speaking for the manufacturers of pulp and paper, let me give assurance of our entire readiness to assume obligation and render full measure of service in the practical execution of a program that will be continent wide in its scope, all- embracing as to wood-using industries, and dedicated in its la«t analysis to the permanent service of all the people. Geo. W. Sisson, Jr., President American Paper and Pulp Association January 26, 1921. statement of mr. l. f. kneipp, assistant forester united states forest SERVICE. Disregarding the national forests, national parks, and other special forms of reservation, the United States at the present time owns or controls approxi- mately the following acreage of land in the continental United States, exclusive of Alaska : Acres. Unreserved and unappropriated 200, 320, 128. 00 For military reservations 491,' 886. 50 For naval purposes , 13,087.58 Ilevested or pending revestment (approximately) 2,700,000.00 For marine hospital services 28,560.70 Agricultural experiment stations 49, 166. 25 Indian purposes, allotted and unallotted lands 71,398,730.00 Total .. 275, 001, 059. 03 A great deal of this land bears timber, and its highest use would be for the permanent production of timber. At present it is not being handled with that purpose in view. The intent of sections 10, 11. and 12 of the liill under consideration is to bring under one management all of the timbered lauds owned by the Government of the United States. The country has reached a stage in its national existence where the con- servation of its forest resources is a matter of imperative necessity. One evi- dence of the fact is the purchase by the Nation of 1,844,465 acres" of forested land, at a cost of more than $10,000,000. Further and much larger expendi- tures for the same purpose are now recognized as inevitable. This situation acutely emphasizes the necessity for proper care of the forest lands which still remain in the possession of the Nation. Every acre saved from alieng^tion or denudation represents a future saving of public funds which otherwise will have to be devoted to the repurchase of lands of which the Gov- ernment is now possessed or of other lands of equal forest value. Every acre saved is $5 to $50 saved. Our national-forest policy first took form 30 years ago, and was definitely crystalized into a workable program 23 years ago. Notwithstanding this fact, there is still a large acreage of land in Government control which is far more valuable for forestry than for any other permanent public purpose, but which is not in the national forests nor managed primarily with a view to the per- manent preservation of its foresf value. It would be a stroke of real economy to give it the status which it inevitably must receive. The advantages of such an arrangement are obvious. First, the cost of managing the Nation's forests would be reduced by the elimination of over- head and field organizations which now perform rather comparable functions within their respective territories, which frequently adjoin and differ only in status; second, the production of timber and the protection of watershed values would be of primary, if not paramount, importance rather than incidental or negligible as at present; and, third, the relation of the Nation's forest to the economic or industrial problems relating to forest products would be better correlated or coordinated under one management than under several with differing objectives. (Present map.) A map of the United States will support the statement just made. 44 FORESTRY. The close relationship between the large Indian reservations and the national forests is at once apparent. In many conspicuous instances very important bodies of timber or watersheds lie partly within a national forest and partly within an Indian reservation. The superior advantages of a common plan of management are, in such cases, obvious beyond argument. Much of the un- appropriated public land of timber value lies as a fringe around the edges of the national forests. The valuable timbered lands which have become revested in the United States lie in or adjacent to national forests. The flrst step in the movement proposed would be a preliminary reconnaissance of the Government lands. The areas of present or potential value for timber production having thus been determined a more detailed and analytical study would then be made, forest values being weighed against other economic values. Detailed reports covering all lands found to be chiefly valuable for forest pur- poses would then be submitted to the National Forest Reclamation Commission for classification under the act. The appropriation of $250,000 per annum for five years proposed by section 10 of the act is to cover the cost of this work. Uncertainty regarding the acreage, character, and distribution of the lands requiring examination renders an ac- curate estimate of cost out of the question. In all probability the appropriation proposed would amply cover all costs of examination and appraisal. Every public or private interest, would be adequately safeguarded by the ar- rangement proposed by the act. The three executive departments which deal extensively with the public lands are the Departments of War, Interior, and Agriculture. The Secretaries of these three departments are members of the eonunission. The Senate is represented by two members and the House by two members. The powers conferred by the act are thus vested in a commission where the legislative and executive branches of the Government are almost equally represented and where each interested department has a voice. There has been no systematic canvass of the timber resources of the lands which would be affected by the proposed measure and reliable data are lacking. Statistics showing area, volume, or value of the timberlands, therefore, are esti- mates, pure and simple. On an estimate basis it is believed that the acreage which will be affected by the bill would be approximately as follows : Acres. Unreserved and unappropriated land, exclusive of Alaska 4, 000, 000 Military, naval, and other special reservations 100, 000 Unallotted lands in Indian reservations 5,287,000 Revested lands 1, 500, 000 In other words, approximately 11,000,000 acres of land containing between . 75,000,000,000 and 100,000,000,000 feet of valuable timber, worth to-day more than $150,000,000, would reuire consideration by tlie National Forest Reserva- tion Commission should the pending bill be enacted into law. The extent of tlie equities held by Indians in unallotted timber lauds witliin Indian reservations is rather indeterminable, because of the wide variation in treaties and the purposes and provisions of acts or proclamations setting lands aside for reservation purposes. Much of the acreage of land within Indian "reser- vations involves Indian equities which would have to be liquidated should tlie classification by the National Forest Reservation Commission become final and the lands be embraced within national forests. Equities requiring liquidation also exist in connection with lands revested in the United States. It would be within the province of the National Forest Reservation Commission to determine and to recommend to Congress measures for the liquidation of such equities. In connection with the liquidation of equities consideration should be given to the fact that under National Forest administration the lands would yield large revenues which would materially offset required expenditures of public funds or which in the discretion of Congress could be applied directly to the liquidation of equities, thus materially reducing or perhaps totally eliminating the need for appropriation of public moneys. In the case of Indian lands full and immediate liquidation of equities is neither necessary nor desirable. An arrangement whereby payment of the amount due could be distributed over a long period of years in amounts ade- quate to the needs of the Indians involved would, in many cases, be the pref- erable method of compensation. Such arrangement would permit the applica- tion of receipts from the sale of the resources of the land in settlement of the equities without imposing a hardship upon the holders thereof. rORESTRY. 45 STATEMENT OF CHARLES LATHROP PACK, PRESIDENT AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSO- CIATION. JANUARY 2", 1921. t I speak for the American Forestry Association, which represents the interest of the people of the United States in forestry. The people are more vitally concerned with the management of the forests, their protection, and in the provisions for perpetuating them tlian are the timberland owners, timber manu- facturers, paper and pulp manufacturers, or the wood industries, or the forest- ers who are employed in them. I do not have to point out to this committee why this is so, because, as you so well know. It is the people who pay the State and national taxes for securing and maintaining State and national forests, and who just as directly pay the high and still higher costs due to the decrease in the supply of the products of the forests. Vrhen you consider the provisions of the Snell bill, therefore, a large part of your consideration of the measures proposed must be based on how the public feels towai-d them. If you do not know what this feeling is. let me tell you: Our association is in contact — and close contact — with the public in every part of the United States. The people are now giving more attention to the question of the forests and what they mean to the prosperity of the country than they have ever done in all the previous history of the United States. During the last year a great educational movement in relation to the value of the forests has swept from one end of this country to the other, and the people have re- sponded to this by taking more interest in legislative matters than they have ever done before. Organizations of all character in State after State have gone on record as demanding from their State governments adequate forest policies, and I do not exaggerate when I say that the people of the United States are practically a unit in demanding that Congress take some definite action with the least "possible delay in order to provide for proper fire protection of forest lands, for the reforestation of cut-over lands, and for the regrowth of forests everywhere on lands unsuited to agriculture. Gentlemen, I do not wish to Imply in the slightest degree that what I am going to say is a threat. It is not. It is simply a plain statement of fact : If the people of the United States do not get constructive action by Congress on this forestry problem. Congress is certainly going to hear from them. Look for a moment on how the public has been affected during the last few years by this situation. One of the greatest problems of the day is the housing question. Lumber and other forest products enter prominently into the erection of homes. The high cost of these products has undoubtedly retarded building in every section of our country. We are enlightened. We read voluminously, and we have had to pay, due "to the increased prices of paper, twice as much for read- ing matter as we paid a few years ago, due to the depleted supplies of wood pulp. Figure, if you will, the reason for increased prices of almost everything of what the average person uses, and in those figures you will have to give as one of the reasons for the increased cost the fact that the wood used in making or transporting them has increased very greatly in price. This is a period of high taxes and unanimous complaint, because taxes are high. Naturally, Congress must reduce the cost of running the Government, and, naturallv. "the people expect Congress to cut down taxes wherever it is po.ssible to do" so, and any plea for appropriations which increases our taxes is met. of course, with the "statement that Congress must economize. This is all vei-y well and cood business; but it is not good business, nor is it well, to over- look appropriations for constructtive measures which will save the people a o-reat deal more than the ai)propriations or their taxes required, to pay for such appropriations. The cheapest and the best and the quickest way of reducing the prices of lumber, pulpwood. and other products of the forests is to increase the supply, and the onlv wav to increase the supply is by passing such legislation as we are here requesting you to pass. Let me say that I have it on good •uithoritv that the incominii administration is going to look very favorably, indeed on this proposed legislation and to say further that if your committee recommends for passage the bill which is now before you that I believe you will be supported bv the Senate and House. Let me say further and finally that if YOU do this "the people of the United States will be with you and will '■■ive vou credit that is due you for a piece of legislation which, year after year Tn the future, will save the country many, many millions of dollars more than the amount required to provide for an adequate forest policy. 32002—21 4 46 FORESTRY. ADDITIONAL STATEMENT BY COL. HENRY S. GRAVES. Section 5 provides for forest investigations of two classes, intended to fur- nish the scientific basis, first, for the growing of timber, and, second, for its full and effective utilization. The appropriation of $1,000,000 should be divided about equally between them. Forest experiment station. — Investigations of the first class are an essential part of a national-forestry program, because they will substitute knowledge for opinion in the management of our forests. They must, if the present indicates future requirements, give the scientific basis for increasing present growth of 6,000,000,000 cubic feet to the 25,000,000,000 we use. These investigations must furnish the technical knowledge for the reforestation of 81,000,000 acres of waste forest land, for increasing the production on 245,000,000 acres now only partially productive, and for working out methods of cutting which will leave productive 137,000,000 acres of remaining virgin timber. In short, they must furnish the basis for foresti-y on an area twice that of all Europe, ex- clusive of prewar Russia, and on an area of waste forest lands alone equal to that of France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Switzerland, Spain, and Portugal. Success in reforestation timber growing and protection will depend largely upon technical knowledge, obtainable in a reasonable time at a reasonable cost, only through forest investigattions. European experience and our own show conclusively that such work can be conducted most efliciently from forest exi^eriment stations just as similar woi-k for agriculture can from agricultural experiment stations. Such stations, manned by trained observers, try out on a small and comparattively inexpensive scale under close observation varying methods of reforestation, jind of cutting timber, eliminate the unsuccessful, and demonstrate those which are effective. Investigations afford the only economi- cal and practical method of preventing large-scale costly mistakes, also serious in delaying production. European foresters deal with 25 tree species, mainly with seven — a single pine, one spruce, one fir, one larch, one birch, and two oaks ; our investigations must cover 495, of which 125 are of especial commercial importance. We must deal with wide variations of climate, soil, and topography, and with an almost endless number of combinations of species requiring corresponding variations in forest management. Forest experiment stations should answer conclusivelj'^ for these widely varying conditions in all of the important forest regions such questions as: What trees can and should be grown? How should the nursery stock of each be produced and how and when planted? How should different timber stands be cut so that natural reforestation of desirable species will follow promptly and make artificial planting unnecessary? What yields may be expected as a basis for business plans and management policy? How may poorly stocked, cut-over, or partly devastated lands be converted into fully pro- ductive, rapidly growing stands of desirable species? What methods and species should be used in replacing stands killed by such diseases as chestnut blight? What forest management is necessary for effective regulation of stream flow for irrigation and to prevent erosion? Finally, a wide series of investigations should make for improved fire protection. Some progress has already been made, substantial progress for the small force available. In the East the work has largely been general in character, and has now reached the stage where further progi'ess must be made through intensive studies possible only at forest experiment stations. In the West national forest requirements led to the establishment of five small experiment stations, all now practically discontinued through reduced appropriations. These stations have proved invaluable in supplying a sound technical basis for national forest prac- tice. While for the country most progress has been made in developing methods of artificial planting, a large opportunity remains for refinement of methods to give better results and reduce costs, and on many species no work has been done. The development of proper methods of cutting, even where it has gone farthest, is still in a pioneer stage ; practically nothing has been done as a basis for fire protection ; and, finally, almost all of "the work on the fundamental laws of tree association and growth on which our entire system of forest management must eventually rest is ahead. To support the national forestry program ade- quately the work should be revived at the five western stations and five eastern stations should be established. ^ A northeastern station should cover the problems of New England, where 5,500,000 acres are now an unproductive waste ; 8,000,000 acres grow nothing FORESTRY. 47 but fuel wood ; and the remainder of its 25,000,000 acres of forested land only a part of what it could and should, as well as of eastern New York. The north- eastern pulp industry should be released from dependence upon Canada for one- fourth its pulp wood by solving the problems of growing spruce forests. An additional group of problems centers in the hardwood and pine forests, witli New England now importing at least one-third of its lumber and New York probably more. A second station should deal with the hardwood and coniferous forests of the Alleghenies in Pennsylvania and adjacent States, both commercial forests and farm wood lots, which for Pennsylvania can not now supply lumber for Pittsburgh. The third station should demonstrate hardwood production in the Appalachian Mountains, the steep productive slopes of which nuist in the future largely supply the bulk of our high-grade, valuable hardwood timber for the entire country. The fourth station should cover the problems of the southern pine belt, during the past 25 years one of the principal soiirces of general-purpose timber for our largest markets. The pine area alone, not considering cypress and hard- wood, is greater than the forest area of prewar France, Germany, and Austria. Twenty-three and a half million acres of waste forest land must be reforested, and in addition to timber growing important naval stores and combined grazing and timber-production problems must be solved. The fifth eastern station must enable the Lake States to reforest their 20,000,000 aci'es of waste white pine and other forest land and make fully productive 26,000,000 acres additional, so that they can supply at least their own lumber and pulp requirements. The 61,000,000 acres of Rocky Mountain forests of diversified altitudinal, climatic, and timber conditions require the reestablishment of three stations : In the inland empire for the western white pine and larch-fir forests, in Colorado for the lodgepole pine and Engelmanu spruce stands, and in Arizona for the western yellow pine forests of the Southwest. Except in the North the region is not even now self-supporting in timber production and faces development certain to increase demand. Both timber production and the regulation of stream fiow for ii'rigation of agricultural lands must be provided. Two stations are neetled for California, Washington, and Oregon, containing more than half of the remaining timber of the United States ; a California station for the sugar, western yellow pine, and redwood forests and for chaparral management to prevent erosion and regulate stream flow for the highly developed agricultural land of southern California, and a Pacific North- west station for the Douglas fir forests and those of hemlock and Sitka spruce extending into southeastern Alaska, which should in the future rival the Scandinavian forests as a source of pulp and paper. Exclusive of Alaska 6,500,000 acres of devastated lands must be reforested and methods of cutting developed for 40,000,000 acres of remaining virgin timber. The allotments for the proposed stations should vary from $30,000 to .$50,000 and average $42,500. A group of problems such as seed tests, effect of light, heat, and moisture on seedling growth, and various microscopic studies, conmion tq all regions, should be centered at one laboratory, which together with a lim- itetl number of specialists, necessary supervision, overhead expenses, and eco- nomic studies such as the timber taxation and tiinber insurance investigations covered in the proviso of section 5 of the bill, would require $75,000, the remain- der of the $500,000 allotment for investigations of the first class. For an area exceeding 460,000,000 acres of widely diversified forests this total, which is only a little more than one-tenth of a cent per acre per year, is not excessive, neither is it excessive in comparison with expenditures in other countries. Prewar ex- penditures of Germany, Switzerland, and Java for similar investigations, on the basis of the forest area of the United States, were at the rate of about $1,500,000. $3,000,000, and $3,700,000. respectively. Forest experiment stations will answer the innumerable questions arising now and which will arise more and more frequently in the future, of how the different phases of timber growing in different regions with different species and combinations of species can best be conducted. They will establisli on a firm foundation the scientific basis for timber production in the United States and by actual demonstration of successful meth(tds go a long way in stinudating a production sufficient to meet our requirements for wood. They will help to bring about the best use of a forest area twice that of all Europe outside of Russia in the production of materials which affect directly or indirectly our 48 FORESTRY. entire p()i)u!ntion and which are essential to liigh standards of living. They will lielp to make possible a forest industi-y which like asriciiltnre is basic to all other industries. The work can not be started too soon, because for numer- ous problems many years are required to secure conclusive results. Timhcr taxation and timber insurance. — Investigations of timber taxation and timber insurance are covered under a proviso of section 5 of the bill. Large-scale production of timber on privately-owned lands is absolutely depend- ent upon working out an equitable, satisfactory form of timber taxation law. Present forms of taxation encourage depletion and discourage the growing of timber. An annual tax is assessed on a crop which requires from 25 to 75 or even more years to mature, and when interest on annual taxes is compounded to the time the crop is harvested it raises serious financial questions for the private owner. To this must be added iincertainty as to both future assess- ments and the rate of taxation with the prospect of increases. While timber taxation is a function of State government, the Federal Government can through investigation, assist materially in the development of more satisfactory meth- ods. The effects of existing State timber tax laws should be studied in coopera- tion with the States and an elTort made to work out laws which will require timber to bear its fair share of the tax burden and at the same time encourage the growing of timber rather than the devastation of forest lands. It is not now possible in the United States to obtain insurance upon -standing timber or growing forests. Losses from tire or disease now^ fall entirely vipon the individual owner and under many conditions the hazard is so great as to be a material factor in discouraging timber growing. Insurance offers the oj))iortunity to pool losses now possible in the case of other forms of property. While the forest insurance must be developed largely by private initiative, in- vestigation by the Federal Government can be made of material help in the pro- motion of this important aid to timber growing by private owners. .^nUITIOX.M. STATE.MEiXT UY K. S. KKLLOGU. ! Section 3 of the Snell Iiill provides for a survey of the forest resources and a census of the timber i-equirements of the United States : " That the Secretary of Agriculture, through the Forest Service and in coop- eration with the various States, organizations of timber users, owners of timber- lands, and other agencies, is hereby authorized and directed to make a survey of the forest resources of the United States to determine the quantity, location, availability, and suitability for various uses of each class or species of timber; to determine the approximate area, location, condition, and productive capacity of the land chiefly valuable for timber growth and not required for other pur- poses : to ascertain the yearly requirements as- to kinds and quantities of timber of each State and important wood-using industry ; and to obtain such related information as in the pulcrment of the Secretary of Agriculture may be neces- sary to carry out the provisions of this act." An inventory is the first requisite in any business undertakinrr. Sound financing and capable management are impossible without stock taking, and inventories must be periodically revised. A forest inventory and a census of timber requirements are fundamental to any adequate plan for forest production and utilization. The need is so obvious that no argument should be necessary to support the request for them. We must find out what we have, where it is. how fast it is growing, how rap- idly it is being used, and what we might have if all forest soil were put to work. On none of these points is our present information accurate in character or quantity. We know in a general way that the area of land in the United States suitable only for timber growth — about 20 per cent of the total — is sufficient in amount and diversified enough in kind and location to produce in the course of time all the timber we need if forestry methods are applied to it — but our information goes little further than this; it is wholly insufficient for the pur- poses of practical working plans. We are told that there is no other material on earth so good as hickory for vehicle manufacture, yet we do not know enough about the present supply, the requirements of the industi-y, nor how to produce a future supply to enable us to tackle the problem with any assurance of success. The hickory users have been urging the seriousness of the situation upon the Government for a dozen years, but all that has been accomplished is an improvement in the grading "rules for the finished product, based upon tests of the physical properties FORESTRY. 49 of the material. No progi'ess has been made toward providing a permanent supply. We are using 125 pounds of paper per capita yearly in the United States, and our pulpwood supply is rapidly dwindling, but no one knows how much we have nor where it is the best national economy to produce a future supply. The white pine of the North, the yellow pine of the South, and the Douglas fir of the West are the finest timbers for structural and general use provided by nature for any nation on earth. Yet our knowledge of the remaining supply of these woods, their reproductive capacity, the industrial requirements for them, and the land areas which may best be devoted to their future production is out of date or nonexistent — chiefly the latter. These are the typical examples. They might just as truly be repeated with resi»ect to all the 40 species of commercially imi)ortant woods in the Ignited States and the hundreds of forest products of daily necessity in the life of the people. V/e don't know where we stand now. We must know if we are to tackle the problem of continuous fore.st production on an adequate scale and in an intelligent fashion. STATEMENT OF MR. ED. E. PARSONAGE, PRESIDENT ASSOCIATION OF WOOD-ITSING INDUSTRIES. In behalf of the interests I represent I want to urge the passage of this bill because it will prove the initial piece of legislation establishing a permanent national forestry policy. I believe that a vast amount of evidence will be given your committee by the lumber and wood-using industries of this country, to make it perfectly plain to our Congress, that even the most comprehensive legislation possible will be much in the nature of an eleventh-hour repentance. I am to speak specifically of section 5. This proposed bill has to do particu- larly with a comprehensive investigation to be made by the Secretary of Agri- culture in connection with proper methods for reforestation, also methods of cutting and utilizing timber. This section is, to my mind, a very important part of the bill, inasmuch as the results of the investigation to be made during the next two or three years will form the real basis for our future National and State reforestation policies. A vast amount of lumber can be saved that now goes into the slab piles of sawmills all over the country. What is needed is adequate work of a compre- hensive chfiracter. and a practical point of contact between the lumber pro- ducer and the lumber user. It is high time that wasteful methods are discarded in the wood-using and wood-producing industries. Many of the wood-using industries who are now using plank from which the actuaf waste is in excess of 35 per cent can be taught to use dimension stock of correct sizes provided the lumber mill operatives can be properly instructed in proper methods of sawing. In the past it has been easier to cut plank and discard or throw away the bal- ;ince of the log with the exception of low-grade car stock, ties, etc. My argument is neither defense for the lumber producer or the wood-using manufacturer, but rather a plea for more economical utilization of our fast failing forests. I will now refer to a still more important part of section 5. namely, the pro- vision authorizing the Secretary of Agriculture to study the effects of tax methods and protection on forest perpetuation ; devise tax laws designed to eno image the conservation and growing of timber, to cooperate with State agencies in the consideration of such plans. It is not my province at this time to even suggest further legislation such as will insure permanent supply of timber for posterity. Ho\Ap\er, it should be patent to everyone that of the original 822,000,000 acres of virgin forest in the United States, there is at present only one-sixth of that area remaining. One-half of our merchantable standing timber lies in the three Pacific Coast States, and over 60 per cent of the total is west of the Mississippi Valley. In addition, the Forestry Bureau figures that only one-flfth of the timber left in this country is hardwood, upon which so large a portion of our wood-using industries depend. Any reforestation legislation must necessarily provide for ways and means by which it will be commercially possible for individuals, corporations. States, or the National Government, individually or collectively, to hold forest land suffi- ciently long to grow merchantable timber. 50 FORESTRY. Subsidies are promptly frowned upon in wiiatever way they may be presented. However, taxes may be reduced, withheld for periods, or canceled entirely. Other encouragement, financial and otherwise, may be necessary to make ade- quate reforestation a commercial possibility. Up to the present time if a sawmill were constructed at any given point for the specific purpose of sawing merchantable timber from a tract of, say, 10,000 acres, the entire cost of the mill and all its sawmill buildings and equipment must be charged off in a period of, say, from 5 to 10 years. When the timber is cut off the tract the mill is abandoned. The public necessarily pays the bill in every thousand feet of lumber that is marketed from this mill. Constructive legislation should be framed as quickly as possible, such as will enable this millowner to cut ]n*ogressively, with the idea of recutting in another 10 years, or by adding to his tract with the idea of continvious operations. It may be even reasonable at this time to present the idea that legislation may be necessary in the near future to encourage or force economical cutting of timber, especially if national or State aid be available for insuring perma- nent reforestation, I feel, gentlemen, that we are figuratively taking a very small bite of the apple in passing this initial piece of constructive reforestation legislation. ADDITIONAL STATEMENT ON SECTION 5 FILED BY A. B. GEEELEY. Losses in manufacture make it necessary to cut in the forest four. times the material finally utilized. Only a small part of the latter is used with intelli- gent reference to its properties. The object of forest products' research is to put this enormous waste to economic use, to make one tree do the work of four, and to improve the inefficient rule-of-thumb methods now employed in utilizing timber. The place of forest products research in a national forestry program is to make the timber left and that grown go as far and serve as effectively as possible. Research includes studies of the mechanical, physical, and chemical properties of the various species ; manufacturing processes to improve efliciency and utilization ; new processes to utilize waste; and educational and cooperative assistance in the application of x-esults. Investigations are conducted mainly at the Forest Products Laboratory. The total use of wood where strength is a factor is very large — .$200,000,000 annually for the building trades alone. Knowledge of the mechanical proper- ties of timber and of defects on these properties is essential to efficient utiliza- tion in building construction. Five hundred thousand strength tests on 125 species have been made to supply this knowledge. Such results are already applied on approximately one-tenth of the structural timber used. The data forms the basis for structural timber-grading rules for southern pine and Douglas fir with a 20 per cent increase in allowable working stresses. It has had, and will continue to have, a wide application in many wood-using indus- ties in the selection of suitable substitutes for woods no longer available. Supplemented by special tests, data on strength properties liave a wide application on many wood products, such as containers. Investigations on con- tainers for some 40 commodities have in each case saved from 12 to 30 per cent in lumber and shipping space and produced a cheaper, more serviceable product. The adoption of improved specifications by several large associations has saved at least $1,000,000 annually. A shippers' association using annually 150,000,000 boxes for canned goods alone reports that fi'om past research 90,000,000 of their boxes can be made more efficient with less lumber, a saving, at 1 cent a box, of ,$900,000. Economies in packing and shipping are important to all manufacturers, shippers, dealers, and most of all to the public. Much of the $55,000,000 claims bills paid by the railroads in 1918 for goods damaged and lost in shipment is attributable to faulty containers. Additional investigations are therefore urgently needed on the design and construction of a wide range of representa- tive classes of wooden, fiber, and veneer boxes and crates, and on fundamental relationships between container construction and contents. New fields of work on mechanical properties include tests of large columns on which practically nothing is known, of steam bending, now responsible for excessive losses of high-grade material, effect on strength of various wood- preservative processes, woodworking properties, and the relationship between growing conditions and strength properties. More efficient and standardized lumber and timber grades are urgently needed in the interest of both consumer and producer. In short, investigations on the mechanical properties of wood and wooden products must eventually provide data that will enable wooden f FORESTRY. 51 buildings, bridges, spokes, boxes, barrels, and such products to be designed and constructed most efficiently from properly selected wood. A practically untouched field deals with methods of reducing waste or utiliz- ing the smaller sizes, of which our future forest production must largely con- sist. The requirements of industries utilizing small sizes must be studied primarily from the standpoint of supplying their raw material from the waste of industries using large sizes. Built-up and laminated construction can be developed by research to utilize an immense amount of material of small size and low grade now either wasted or of little value, and depends upon changed processes and industrial standards and a strong, durable, waterproof glue or other means of fastening. The standardization of dimension stock sizes and their cutting direct from the log rather than first into lumber promises a large reduction of waste. For example, the manufacture of hickory handles some- times requires 2 tons of lumber for 400 pounds of handles, and furniture manu- facture wastes from 40 to 60 per cent of its lumber. These are merely examples of numerous prol)lems whose solution can be made to revolutionize present conceptions of utilizing small sizes and waste. Improved methods of drying developed on 35 woods, including Douglas fir, southern pine, spruce, gum, and many oaks are designed to reduce the largely unnecessary annual $50,000,000 loss in the seasoning of lumber, every dollar of which is an added production cost and the waste an additional drain on our forest resources. Further improvement of methods can come only through the determination of the limitations and ixissibilities of existing dry kilns and their improvement, a wider knowledge of essential drying conditions for all species, and research into the fundaijiental natural laws which govern sea- soning. The deca.y of railroad ties, mine timbers, poles, posts, piling, bridge material, and that used in exposed conditions is a drain upon the forests equal to forest fires. Forest Service investigations have materially assisted in the present extensive use of preservatives ; established the susceptibility of 46 species to several treatments : shown how to improve several processes ; established methods of analyzing creosote and of detecting adulterants ; established some of the principles affecting time and cost of treatment ; and reduced costs at least one-half cent per cubic foot for all material treated, or .$625,000 annually. Further reduction of decay requires work to cheapen processes to encourage wider application of preservative treatment, to develop better methods for refractory timbers, to develop a piling preservative and a cheap odorless pre- servative suitable for such structures as houses which will take paint and can be supplied in quantity. A fire retardant and better forms of construction must be developed to reduce the largely unnecessary fire losses of $200,000,000 or more annually, and much work must be done on paints, varnishes, and coatings. Chemical utilization offers possibly the greatest opportunity to utilize waste and low-grade material. The rapidly growing pulp industry alone uses over 5,000,000 cords of wood. Because of the growing scarcity of pulp woods, tests whiclT determined the suitability of 23 woods for ground and 48 for soda, sulphate, and sulphite pulp are increasingly valuable. Additional tests are attempting modifications of the processes, as for example, of the sulphate process to utilize resinous conifers, sucli as the southern pine, for book and high- grade print paper. Studies to reduce a $5,000,000 pulp decay and a greater pulp-wood decay loss are promising. Within the year cotton linters formerly wasted have been shown satisfactory for pulp, and an annual commercial- plant capacity of 100.000 tons is the result. The 2,000,000 cords of wood which disappears in manufacturing chemical pulp can be saved only through research. If the resin question can be solved, the number of woods suitable for news- print can be increased by several common, widely distributed pines, with far- reaching economic consequences to the press, the pulp and paper industry, and timber production. The utilization of pulp for fiber products, amazing ali'ead^v in variety, has practically limitless possibilities through research. Wood-distillation tests have determined the suitability of five new woods and show how to increase commercial yields of wood alcohol and acetic acid 15 per cent without increasing costs. Recent investigations give a further increase of 50 per cent in wood-alcohol production. Wood alcohol is secured only by wood distillation, and is essential in many chemical industries. Research on ethyl alcohol has reduced operating costs 9 cents per gallon at the larger of our two commercial plants, which produce several million gallons a year, and was an important factor in its success. Important in the utiliza- 52 FORESTRY. tion of mill waste, this process offers also one possible substitute for gasoline if by research costs can be reduced and manufacture made possible at small plants. Progress in all chemical utilization will depend largely upon knowledge of fundamental wood chemistry. Such research, now hardly begun, promises- .'•:weeping improvements in widely diversified chemical wood industries. While necessary to determine facts by research it is important that such facts be used. This requires publication, contact with industries, and commer- cial demonstrations. A staff sufficiently large to provide such service is neces- sary for the maximum application of results. Tlie annual value of all of the products made from wood in tbe United States amounts to several billion dollars. The industries involved in this production, in labor employed and in capital invested, ranks in the aggregate with our leading industries. These industries, as well as the public, all of which is directly or indirectly concerned, are vitally interested in a continuous wood supply. Forest products investigations can assist materially in making the supply continuous by showing how to reduce the present waste of three- fourths of every tree cut and to get the maximum value out of the one-fourth used. Such research can make our remaining supplies go further and reduce the amounts of timl)er we shall otherwise have to grow to meet requirement. It is hardly less essential to utilize our timber well than to grow it. This is the function of forest-products' research in national forestry. An aimual allot- ment of $500,000 is none too large for the most urgent and pressing work. STATEMENT OF MR. .J. RANDALL WIL1.I.\MS, .TR., CHAIRMAN COMMITTEE ON FORESTRY,, NATIONAL WHOLESALE LLTMIJER DEALERS' ASSOCIATION. I do not own any timber in the United States nor am I interested financially in any niauufacturing or lumber company in the United States. I feel that I am exceptionally fortunate in Iteing able to be here as I am in a position to express to you an unbiased opinion on this subject — ^my ex- perience having brought me in close touch, on the one hand, with the lumber manufacturer, and on the other with the consumer and general public. View- ing this question with the idea of taking care of the requirements of our children and our children's children so far as their supply of timber is con- cerned. Let us divide the public into two classes : First, those owning timlier and producing lumber; second, those consuming the product and the general public. While both of these classes are in a more or less dormant condition in regards to a national-forest policy, they show signs of an early awakening, and, like the Quaker, who changes his belief, often becoming very high church, the average person of the latter class on taking up the question is liable to become radical iu his ideas, condemning at once the lumber manufacturer for cutting down the trees, which, as a matter of fact, is a marketable product, the de- mand for which is caused by the self-same public person who is condemning the lumberman. In making legislation governing the cutting of timber, while the majority rule, they should not overlook the fact that the lumber manufacturer is the one who has had the real practical experience, and his difficulties should be considered. Criticism should be constructive and not destructive. To develop a system of cutting timber, which will get the lumberman's interest, cooper- ation, and support, are fundamental and not radical Federal laws. The fundamental reasons for cutting timber are demand for the product, business enterprise, development, maturity of crop, time limit in which to cut in accordance with the purchaser's contract, and excessive taxes on standing timber, all of which have a distinct bearing on the manner in which the timber is cut. There are two classes of timber and cut-over lands : The large holdings and tracts, where the large and permanent mills are located, and the smaller and scattered tracts developed by the portable mills. The former are better able and are developing reforestation and fire protection, while with the latter this is practically impossible. They both need Federal and State support. The cut-over lands may be divided into two classes : That suitable for agri- culture and that suitable for reforestation. The first is quick to produce and has a market, the second needs State and Federal help, either by their taking over the land or giving the owner assistance. The majority of the States have little or no timber and are dependent upon the timber-producing States, and the latter owe a responsibility to the former FOEESTKY. 53 and should be made to look after and carry at least half the burden, getting an equivalent support from the Federal Government. State control, in coopera- tion with the landowner and Federal Government, will develop a greater inter- est in the State, and e()operuti<»n not only of tlie landowner and lumber manu- facturer but of the people in that State in which the timber and land is located. It places on them a greater moral responsibility for the care and development of the same. STATEMENT ON SECTION 9 BY E. A. SHERMAN, ASSOCIATE FORESTER, FOREST SERVICE. The purpose of section 9 of H. R. 15327 is to increase the value and produc- tiveness of the existing national forests. It proposes to do this by a method very similar to the methods authorized in section 8 of the same measure. The principal difference is that in section 8 the timber-producing lands are to be acquired by purchase ; in section 9 they are to be acquired by barter. Within the existing national forests there was on June 30, 1920. a total of 24,267,723 acres of land which did not belong to the United States Government and a total of 156,032.053 acres which did belong to the United States Govern- ment. A little less than 87 per cent was in Government ownership, and a little more than 13 per cent was in adverse possession. This is due to the fact that before the forests were created all the lands within their boundaries were open to acquisition under the various public-land laws, resulting in much of the best land being taken. The relative importance of the privately owned land within the forest is greater than the 13 per cent would indicate, for the reason that much of this area was carefully selected with an eye to strategic control. The situation varies widely on dilTerent forests. Some forests are almost entirely solid areas of Government land ; others are more than 50 per cent in private ownership. In each of 78 different forests there are over 100,000 acres of pri- vately owned land, at least 90 per cent of which is chiefly valuable for timber production and watershed protection. Such privately owned land increases the cost of administration, multiplies the difficulties of forest management, and is a permanent fire menace to the timber upon adjoining national forest land. The work and expense of providing for proper brush disposal on timber-sale areas on national forest land may be completely nullified by the misuse of adjoining land, such as neglect in disposing of slash. Usually the interests of the Government and the interests of intermingled private holdings are not identical. The private owner aims at the maximum immediate financial re- turn; the Government's object is permanent, beneficial use. But intermingled land in a given logging unit or unit of forest management must be handled as a unit and with a single purpose or object in view — to secure the best results either in financial returns or public service. This section makes it possible for the Government and the private owner to_ each consolidate its holdings so that each is free to secure the full benefits contemplated by complete owner- ship. This in itself is exceedingly desirable and fully warranted from the broad standpoint of public interest. In the first place this section should not be confused with the iniquitous " lieu land " law. That law gave the owner of private land rights of selection and gave the Government's officers neither power nor discretion to protect the public against inequitable selections. This measure confers no rights upon the private owners, but does give the Secretary of Agriculture power and dis- cretion whereby the public interests will be advanced, the national forests extended, and their value and productiveness increased. This section has ample precedent in existing laws. Seven different acts passed by Congress include substantially these provisions, applicable generally to seven different national forests. In addition Congress has at different times given specific authority for a considerable number of s-pecific exchanges of the kind contemplated by this section. The only feature in this section for which there is not already existing precedent in our statutes is the certificate fea- ture, which is designed to simplify exchanges by elinnnating a proportion of the uncertainties incident to barter. The beneficial results of this section if enacted into law would extend far beyond the mere advantages of consolidation. It would be in fact an actual and effective permanent curative instrument in dealing with existing aliena- tions. Excepting as to the lands purchased under the Weeks law, only about 1 per cent of our national forests consist of cut-over land. We have conse- quently a tremendous forest capital to draw upon. This section would enable 54 FORESTRY. the Department of Agriculture to utilize a part of the forest capital in im- proving the national forest property as a whole, by acquiring, where this can be done at reasonable valuation, the intermingled forest lands which in ad- verse ownership threaten the security or affect the value of the publicly owned forests. Roughly speaking, it is estimated that about 19,000,000 acres out of the 24,000,000 acres in private ownership in the national forests are chiefly valuable for timber production and watershed protection. Some owners will wish to exchange land for land ; others will wish to ex- change land for timber. Eventually, however, in the long run it is believed that 1 acre of land can be secured in exchange for an average of not to exceed 1,000 feet b. m. of standing timber. Based upon a total stand of 500,000,000,000 feet of merchantable timber, it would require a little less than 4 per cent of our present stock of timber to foot the bill for purchasing this 19,000,000 acres of privately owned timberland in the national forests. In addition the present owners would necessarily require compensation for the value of the merchant- able timber now standing on their lands. This would be worked out in different ways to meet different conditions. In some places the private owner would be allowed to reserve the right to cut and remove the merchantable timber within a certain fixed period of years ; in other cases he would be given an equal value of national forest timber, which he would be required to cut and remove under proper silvicultural restrictions. In short, the entire area of privately owned timberland, distinct from the present stock of merchantable timber on the land, could be acquired at a timber cost no greater in volume than the average vol- ume growth which may reasonably be secui'ecl from the resulting consolidated national forests in a single year under adequate fire protection and regulated cutting. To acquire the private timber in addition will not reduce the total value of merchantable timber remaining in Government ownership, since in no case would the Government give a greater value than it would acquire. Such privately owned lands and their existing stocks of timber should certainly be acquired as rapidly as possible. Long-time plans of forest management are impossible unless this is done. The situation can not be met entirely by purchases under section 8 of this measure. Many owners who would not care to sell their timber holdings for cash would be willing to liquidate by means of a conservative lumbering operation made possible by a direct exchange. Section 9 supplements the appropriations of public money which would be made under section 8 by making the earning and growing capacity of the forests contribute to their consolidation and im- provement. In short, it simply empowers the Secretary of Agriculture to ap- ply good business methods in the management of our public timberlands. The boundary lines of many of the national forests were determined origi- nally largely by land ownership instead of being drawn to embrace natural- forest units. In the process of consolidation or acquisition by exchange under this section it will sometimes be necessary and desirable to acquire lands which are not actually embraced within the technical or legal limit of the na- tional forests. As this section is worded, this can be done and the forest units rounded out to embrace the adjoining rough timberlands, which under reason- able plans of forest management should be added to the present Federal units. The total area which, by the process of exchange, might thus be added to the national forests is roughly estimated at 5,000,000 acres. I desire particularly to call the committee's attention to the fact that this is a class of work which is already under way and which has justified itself by satisfactory results. Section 9 would merely extend to all the national forests provisions which in greater or less extent have already been extended to seven specific forests. In this connection your attention is called to the fact that during the present session of Congress a total of 44 individual land exchange bills have been introduced in the House and Senate. Of this number 5 have been enacted into law. Thirty-nine measures are now pending, including H. R. 9539, a general measure similar to section 9, which measure has been intro- duced by the chairman of the Public Lands Committee. Judging by the known favorable attitude of many members of that committee, its formal approval is expected. Its enactment into law would place in the hands of the Secretary of Agriculture a most potent means for increasing the permanent usefulness and value of the national forests. As such it is naturally of great importance to your committee and forms a necessary part of any complete national-forest program. FORESTRY. 55 STATEMENT ON SECTION OF H. R. 15327, BY E. E. CARTER, ASSISTANT FORESTER, FOREST SERVICE. Section G makes provision for a substantial increase in the worlv of artificial reforestation on the national forests. This means the establishment of a timber crop by the Federal Government on its own lands which have been set aside for the production of timber to meet tlie needs and necessities of citizens of the United States. The chief object for which the national forests have been created is to grow timber. Where it is necessary to plant trees in order to start a timber crop, the exi^ense of doing so must be incurred if this object is to be accomplished. The planting of denuded national-forest lands also fur- nishes demonstrations of how unproductive lands in other ownerships may be made productive. Planting on the national forests is necessary almost solely where repeated forest fires have destroyed all possibility of securing a new stand of timber from naturally distributed seed. Only in the most exceptional places does any forester advocate the planthig of lands which can reseed naturally, and then only for the purpose of starting a crop of the best and most useful trees instead of accepting the stand of relatively inferior kinds which, under some circumstances, take possession of the ground. On the national forests there are millions of acres which were burned over at one time or another, chiefly before the forests were put under administration, and which are reseeding naturally. Such lands are not being and would not be planted by the Forest Service, since to do so would be an unnecessary expenditure and consequently a waste of money. There are, however, at least 1,500,000 acres of land which have been burned so hard by repeated fires that no new stand of trees is coming in. On these lands planting is necessary. Every year these lands remain idle there is a loss in production of at least 500,000,000 board feet of timber for which it is known the country will be in dire need. In addition there is one national forest, the Nebraska, of about 200,000 acres, which was practically all treeless sand hills. This forest is being planted successfully. Local supplies of rough construction lumber, posts, and other wood used on farms can be furnished to the people of a State which has practically no natural forests. Since the organization of the forest service .$1,121,946.10 has been spent iu planting or sowing unproductive lands, mostly old burns. The total area actually reforested is about 100,000 acres, or less than 10 per cent of the total area needing it. The work is now going forward at the rate of from 6,000 to 9,000 acres a year, with' an annual appropriation of $125,000. The Department nf Agriculture has felt so keely the necessity for increasing the appropriation for fire protection that it has refrained from asking for a large increase in the planting appropriation in order that there might be no misunderstanding in the minds of the Members of Congress that it considered fire protection as the first essential. The planting fund was even reduced during the war on the basis of curtailing work of betterments or improvements in the face of a labor shortage. It has not been restored to its prewar sum of $165,000. Denuded land can be reforested, as is shown by the current operations on the national forests, at a cost of from $5 per acre in the Lake States to $15 per acre for good-sized operations in Idaho or Oregon. The average cost for the 1,500.000 acres would be about $10 per acre. An appropriation of a million dollars a year would mean that the area needing planting would be restored to productivity at the rate of 100,000 acres a year. The more favorable sites, •nhich could be reforested the most cheaply, would be undertaken first, so that the rate of gain for the first few years would be higher. In many cases it is possible to forecast, even on the basis of present stump- age values, a direct financial return on this investment, ^^'ith the increases in stumpage value, which are certain to occur with the rapid diminution of the amount of standing timber in the country, the restoration of practically all these idle lands to a condition of productivity will be justified as a business undertaking. More important, however, is the creation of additional sources of supply of needed wood material for the country. Once a timber crop is established, future crops can be secured by natural seeding. Planting assures not only the returns from the crop planted, but also the permanent production of timber on the land as an additional return. To reforest the idle lands in national forests at the rate of about 7 per cent annually, as part of a national program of forestry, is a project which should 56 FORESTRY. not l)e delayed. Its importance has not l)een emphasized in the past, because no general planting program should be undertaken until there is reasonable assurance against heavy losses from tires. As part of a national program which places better fire protection first, it is timely and an essential part of the whole. STATEMENT OF PHILIP W. AYKES, FOKESTER OF THE SOCIETY FOR PROTECTION OF NEW HAMPSHIRE FORESTS. High prices for all wood material, due to the growing scarcity of timber throughout the land, is reacting seriously in the White Mountalrijs. Felling opei-ations proceed with a rapidity unknown before, except uiX)n the limited arci'.s already acquired by the Government. Softwood timber in the valleys thnnighout tlie mountain is completely gone. This comprised tlie great bulk of timber that originally clothed this region. It is only timber on the high slope that remains. The high slopes now are stripped of botli softwood and hardwood — every- thing. In a single day 3,000 men, armed with every invention that Yankee ingenuity can devise, strip the steep slopes, that can not be recovered to forest, of value in centuries. We are using precisely the metliods of the Chinese people in stripping their mountains clean of every kind of wood material, encouraging fire and erosion and consequent floods, with this difference: That the Chinese took 150 years to do what we are accomplishing in 25 years. Every great river in New England rises in the central mountain region of New Hampsliire and Maine, except the Penobscot ; and these rivers affect every State in New England except Rhode Island. The Federal Government has acquired only 46 per cent of the land that the Federal engineers marked out 10- years ago as necessary to control stream flow from these great watersheds. On the remainder the dance of death proceeds merrily. Present methods of cutting are quite different from those of 10 years ago, when timber was more plentiful and prices were hiwer. Mountain hardwood had no value then ; now everything is taken. The smallest saplings are cut t(. get them out of the way of the larger logs, leaving a slash that invites Are. Two large fires, each covering several hundred acres, occurred last fall when tlie leaves were dry. These fires consumed not only the debris after lumber- ing but also the soil itself, which in the mountains is of vegetable origin ; after fire new growtli is postponed for centuries and in some places forever. ThuS', within a single generation we have gone far toward the despoliation of a region wliich is the mother of great rivers that affect more manufacturing enterprises than any other group of streams of like character in the whole world. The delay of a single day is detrimental, and the delay of one year brings a loss that is irreparable. In a year logging operations, fire, and erosion will have gone far on these steep slopes toward the permanent disa- bility of the streams. I speak as a forester who has been intimately familiar with the AVhite Mountains for 20 years. In the late war the Wliite ]Mountains supplied a goodly amount of material for cantonments, ammunition boxes, and aeroplane stock. In any future emergency they will be unable to do so except from the areas that have been acquired by the Government. STATEMENT OF WILLIAM L. HALL, OF CHICAGO, ILL. Although not at present a member of the Forest Service, I was in that organi- zation for 20 years and from 1911 to 1918 had charge of the purchase of lands- in the Soutliern Appalachians and the White Mountains. On account of my connection with that work I have been asked to present a statement to the- committee on sections 7 and 8 of the Suell bill. The two major proposals of the pending bill are the maintaining of private timl)orhinds in productive condition and the consolidation, rounding out, and extension of the National Forests. It is to the second of these that I now ask the attention of the committee. It is, in fact, to that part of this proposal that has to do with an appropriation for further purchases of lands for national forests, under the act of March 1, 1911. Section 7 of the pending bill proposes an appropriation of $10,000,000 a year for five years. Section 8 makes tlie appropriation applicable to lands more suit- able to timber growing than to other purposes, in any part of the United States;. FORESTRY. 57 National forests are the one outstanding acliievement in forestry tlius far made in the United States. It is now 30 years since the hiw authorizing them was passed. In that time lands have been segregated out of the public domain to the area of 135,000,000 acres and set aside permanently for forest production. 'They are the wild, remote, mountainous lands of the Western States, for the most part, but notwithstanding their wild, inaccessible, and undeveloped condi- tion they contain 500,000,0(.H1,000 feet of timber whi-'h is becoming valuable as the supplies elsewhere become exhausted, and as they are opened up by roads, trails, and telephones. Ten years ago this connnittee favorably reported and Congz'ess passed an act authorizing the establishment of national forests on the headwaters of important navigable streams and appropriated $11,000,000 for the purchase of lands for this purpose. The appropriation was made on the basis of a program which proposed he purchase of 5,000,000 acres in the southern Appalachian Mountains and 1,000,000 acres in the White Mountains, for it was generally understood that the program was mainly to be carried out in those two regions. Some addi- tional appropriations have been made and there has now been expended about $11,500,000. There has been purchased or contracted for 1,800,000 acres at an average acreage price of $5.25. or if the cost of ex;uninations, timber cruises, land surveys, title work and c'.ei'k hire be considered, the average acreage price has been $6.29 per a -re. The original program is therefore 30 per cent carried out and the cost has been, in lound numbers, $11,5(X>,000. Have there been any substantial results fi-om these expenditures? It will be good news to members of the committee to know that these lands to-day ap- pear to be worth more than double their cost. If to the original expenditures for purchase there be added all subsequent expenditures for protection and administration and a balance sheet be drawn as of this date, the undertaking will be shown to have been better than an 8 per cent investment for the United States. The undertaking has been more than a good investment. On lands where fires have run uncheckeVl for 150 years fires have now been very generally stopped. Over considerable areas careful timber cutting has been done with a result that very fine stands of young trees have come up and are growing fast. They promise well for the future. But perhaps the most wholesome and satisfactory result from these forests has been their influence on the people of the region and on the holders of adjacent timber properties. They have become strong centers of fire protection and of better methods of handlilig timber lands. Their influence has grown until to-day it is a powerful force in the education of the people of the region in the right handling of their timber lands. In this they have merely dupli- cated the results from the National Forests of the West. To-day no other regions of the country are so warmly supporting the forestry legislation now before this committee as the regions which hold the rational forests. This experience will, I believe, when carefully considered by the committee, be convincing that whatever forestry program is adopted must be built around the national forests. They must be the framework of the structure. Upon this point there is, I believe, no considerable difference of view among foresters or among those who have studied the problem at all deeply. Now, if the national forests are to become the mainstay of our forest policy, then national forests must be estnblished in all the forest regions. The Weeks law program must be absorbed into a program that will cover more completely the Eastern States and be extended into the Lake States, the southern pine States, and the Ozark region. We must, if it accords with the fundamental law of the land to do so. get away from the restriction that now limits Pe«, K i 1 , !;!1M < ii-Vt' f ^f if. '-Wit