8 Miscellaneous Circular 39, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture 
leader of men, and it was what was the national forests. The American 
needed in economic affairs of this public has long been aroused to the 
country following the Great War. danger to our sources of supply of 
Reconstruction was the problem that wood. Great strides have been taken 
faced the country, and Secretary to preserve .and conserve the supply, 
Hoover conceived that the first step and the Department of Agriculture as 
was to get a grip upon the imagina- an executive branch of the Government 
tion and minds of our people, of the is the national guardian of the forests. 
industrialists, those who were pro- It is essential that in order to take 
ducing goods and employing labor, measures to safeguard the supply of 
and point out to them that these leaks wood, both in the national forests and 
must be stopped. The wastes of to- in private hands, all of the facts should 
day are the profits of to-morrow; and be determined by thorough investiga- 
if we would have those profits, there tions and established upon a careful 
was no time to be lost in preventing survey and with wise deliberation. 
the waste. To this end it was neces- This logically follows the conservation 
sary to bring our industrialists to see brought into play upon raising the 
that they must govern themselves danger signal against destruction of 
through self-restraint and through co- the forests. It becomes necessary 
operation. During the years since the after ascertaining the facts to put into 
Great War the American public has effect such measures as will ade- 
come into a full realization of the quately conserve the resources of wood 
interdependencies of Government and in the forests so as not only to pro- 
industry. vide a steady supply for the current 
The vital character of that relation needs of industry but as well to sat- 
was one of the outstanding lessons of isfy the future requirements. That is 
the war, and in the period following the first phase of the dual problem. 
the war there has been a splendid dis- The second lies in the utilization of 
position on the part of the industrial the wood from the time the log comes 
leaders of our country to follow the out of the forest down to its ulti- 
path of development of understanding, mate use in the hands of the con- 
helpfulness, and sympathy among all sumer. That problem is for those en- 
branches of American industry. The gaged in the manufacture of wood 
current problems of the Nation are products. It was to that end that 
largely economic, and their solution is the Department of Commerce in ex- 
found not so much in legislation but ercising its function of promoting 
in sound cooperation and a full recog- trade, industry, and commerce of the 
nition of that interdependence. There United States undertook in conjune- 
is a new spirit and a new attitude in tion with the lumber industry to as- 
the Government to-day toward indus- certain the facts and devise means 
try; and when I speak of industry I of correcting the abuses exposed by 
mean all branches of productivity— such a survey in the manufacture and 
manufactures, mining, agriculture, for- distribution of wood products. 
estry. That new spirit and attitude, As has been true in other American 
if followed out to its logical conclu- industries, the manufacturers of wood 
sion, will help the lumber industry and products have suffered from habits of 
all its branches; it will help forestry carelessness, waste, and extravagance 
and agriculture and mining because that have resulted in tremendous loss 
all of these have a definite relation to to the industry and to the public. 
and interest in forestry and the manu- During the past three and a half 
facture of wood products. We may years, the Department of Commerce, 
well look upon the Government as an in the discharge of its functions, has 
ally in the efforts of industry to solve directed its attention to the elimina- 
the problems involved in a better utili- tion of wastes of that description and 
zation of forest products. has carried on extensive programs 
We are discussing here to-day the with the aid of industry which have 
use of a basic material. Even the already resulted in saving vast sums 
great adaptability of iron and steel to the American people. Those sav- 
through the achievements of science ings have been reflected in every stage 
has not brought us to a point where of industrial production and activity, 
there is now, or in the future will be, in lessened cost and higher quality 
the elimination of the use of a vast of products. In carrying out this pur- 
amount of wood. There are two pose the Department of Commerce has 
branches to this problem of utiliza- sought the counsels and suggestions 
tion of wood—a dual problem. The of the industries concerned as to what 
Department of Agriculture is the cus- means might best be resorted to in 
todian of a great natural resource in correcting the evils. Many of you