Forest Service Circular No. 35 Forest Preservation and National Prosperity

THE NEED OF THE FAR NORTHWEST.

GEORGE H. EMERSON,
Vice-President Northwestern Lumber Company.

* * * The song of the ax, the saw, and the hammer is sweet to the ears of our people, for they sing of industry, prosperity, and happy homes. But is there no other note in the song? Do these people ever think of the centuries their crop has been growing? Does it never occur to them that they are the trustees of an heritage for future generations? They are leaving nearly half of the crop in the woods to be burned, and in burning to destroy more; and for the half they are marketing they are receiving no proper equivalent. They are taking to themselves the whole of the heritage intrusted to them, and in return are not even scattering a few seeds for the benefit of their children.

They can only be reached, and these grave errors corrected, by making other methods to their pecuniary interest. Teach them, therefore, the value of their timber; show them ways of turning their waste to profit; send to them pulp mills, chemical works, and tanning-extract plants; help them to show the transcontinental railroads the short-sighted policy they are pursuing; build for them a double-track road and give to them lower freight rates, and from that now wasted they will furnish ties for the North, boxes for the Middle West, cheaper lumber for your homes.