OF THE SEVENTH SOUTHERN FORESTRY Held at Little Rock, ArkANSAS JANUARY 19-22, 1925 The Seventh Southern Forestry Congress was called to order by President J. S. Holmes in the Auditorium of the Hotel Marion, Little Rock, Arkansas at 9:30 a. m., Monday, January 19, 1925. After a brief invocation by Rev. C. B. Waller, D.D., of Little Rock, the Congress was welcomed to Arkansas by Gov. Tom J. Terral. ADDRESS OF WELCOME By GOVERNOR TERRAL Mr. President, and DelegaTES OF THE SOUTHERN FORESTRY CONGRESS: It is my pleasure to welcome you to Little Rock, in the State of Arkansas. I am interested very much indeed in the conservation of the State's natural resources, among which is its great timber resource. What we in Arkansas desire to do is to make progress along all such lines of effort, and as Governor of this State I am for you, and I expect to back any bill that will help protect our forests. You introduce your bill and I will get behind it. What we want is definite results. You can expect me, good friends, to stand up and give to Arkansas a constructive business administration in the affairs of the State, as well as my heartiest support in putting through a measure which will conserve and protect the forest resources. My friends, you have assembled here for a definite purpose, you have assembled here to get and give service, and let me say again I am back of you, for I realize fully that if any one thing in Arkansas is needed it is a definite forestry program. I have told Dr. Millar, a distinguished citizen of this state, and Secretary of the Honorary Arkansas Forestry Commission, to bring me a forestry bill, one which means something for the people and to the people and I will back the proposition to the very limit, fighting for the protection of Arkansas' forests. In welcoming this body of great men to Arkansas, it is not necessary for me to say that we have a great State, one of which we are proud. It is not necessary for me to state that Arkansas has bountiful natural resources, including the only diamond mine in the United States. It would be useless for me to rehearse that Arkansas stands high in the production of food supplies, and is a great timber state. We have long been one of the nation's chief producers of pine and hardwood timber, and we hope to continue as such for many years to come. In order to do so, we must have a system of standards for proper cutting and utilization. I was elected on a platform of stopping waste and I consider waste of our natural resources, prominent among which is timber, about the most serious waste we have. I am well acquainted with the men in Arkansas who have worked hardest for the principles expounded by the Southern Forestry Congress. My opinion of them is so high that I will accept from them, without question, any bill for reforestation or protection of our forests, and will put the whole force of my administration behind it. Arkansas is making progress at rapid strides. It is my whole heart's desire to make the State in all respects a better one in which to live, and it is my desire to give to this great sovereignty an honest business administration, not an oratorical administration composed of making brave promises, but one which will accomplish things for the people of this great State. Now I am busy, those who live in Little Rock, and throughout the State know I have a problem to fight out. They who know something of Ex-Governor Lowden's problems and administration in the State of Illinois, know the kind of administration I am desirous of giving Arkansas, that being one of service. In closing I repeat what I stated a while ago, I am back of your proposition to the very limit, I will fight for the Protection of Arkansas' forests. Dr. Millar and gentlemen of the Southern Forestry Congress, I will fight with you to the end. Mr. W. D. Tyler of the Clinchfield Coal Corporation, Dante, Va., and a former president of the Congress responded to the Address of Welcome as follows: GENTLEMEN OF THE SOUTHERN FORESTRY CONGRESS: It is possibly peculiarly fitting that the duty has been placed upon me of responding to a welcome to Arkansas. Up to about a week ago I had not put my foot in Arkansas, and during the week just passed, I have been roaming around, trying to get a little of the much needed rest, and learning something of the State. I have been over to Hot Springs, with an old college friend of mine and seeing through his glasses, and under his direction, I have formed a very good opinion of at least a corner of Arkansas. Yesterday morning I happened to be out driving with others, in the country from Hot Springs on a breakfast party, and I was particularly struck with the forest situation around Hot Springs. While we have the same situation in the State of West Virginia, and even Mr. Holmes will have to acknowledge a situation similar in North Carolina, I was impressed with the fact that Arkansas is interested in its forests and am now delighted to have heard from the Governor of this State such an emphatic expression of opinion as to his view on that subject. As Mr. Holmes has said, the Southern Forestry Congress has been roaming over the Southeastern United States since 1916, holding meetings. We have been welcomed by the Governors of many of the States at these meetings; we have been welcomed by finished orators, in some instances, but this is the first time I have heard any Governor at any of our meetings express himself with such absolute frankness and steadfast support as came from the Governor of Arkansas. I sincerely hope that the legislators of this State to whom he is appealing, will see this situation through his eyes, and will endeavor to get results; that the waste places of Arkansas will not become blossom fields, but will become great tracts of young, vigorous growing trees to take the place of those that are gone. PUBLIC OWNERSHIP OF FORESTS PRESIDENT J. S. HOLMES STATE FORESTER OF NORTH CAROLINA We have met here at a critical period in the history of our forests and forest industries. The transition is now well advanced from old growth mature timber, timber grown almost without cost to the land owner, to the new conditions when timber will be grown as other crops, with costs for seeding, thinning, protection and other overhead charges. We shall have completed the change before we realize it. Even here in Arkansas, where I was expecting to find one of the few remaining stands of the old hardwoods, I am told that only 12 per cent of the virgin timber remains uncut. Our future protective policy will no longer emphasize the protection of the old timber, but of the young seedlings and saplings. We, by our presence here, show that we recognize the situation. We are here to take council and lay plans for growing the crop which should make unnecessary the long trip and consequent high freight bill for lumber ships from the Pacific coast through the Panama Canal to New York, or the even more expensive rail trip across the continent. Twenty-five years ago with the establishment of the National Forests in the West, and ten years later by the passage It is not necessary for me to state that Arkansas has bountiful natural resources, including the only diamond mine in the United States. It would be useless for me to rehearse that Arkansas stands high in the production of food supplies, and is a great timber state. We have long been one of the nation's chief producers of pine and hardwood timber, and we hope to continue as such for many years to come. In order to do so, we must have a system of standards for proper cutting and utilization. I was elected on a platform of stopping waste and I consider waste of our natural resources, prominent among which is timber, about the most serious waste we have. I am well acquainted with the men in Arkansas who have worked hardest for the principles expounded by the Southern Forestry Congress. My opinion of them is so high that I will accept from them, without question, any bill for reforestation or protection of our forests, and will put the whole force of my administration behind it. Arkansas is making progress at rapid strides. It is my whole heart's desire to make the State in all respects a better one in which to live, and it is my desire to give to this great sovereignty an honest business administration, not an oratorical administration composed of making brave promises, but one which will accomplish things for the people of this great State. Now I am busy, those who live in Little Rock, and throughout the State know I have a problem to fight out. They who know something of Ex-Governor Lowden's problems and administration in the State of Illinois, know the kind of administration I am desirous of giving Arkansas, that being one of service. In closing I repeat what I stated a while ago, I am back of your proposition to the very limit, I will fight for the Protection of Arkansas' forests. Dr. Millar and gentlemen of the Southern Forestry Congress, I will fight with you to the end. Mr. W. D. Tyler of the Clinchfield Coal Corporation, Dante, Va., and a former president of the Congress responded to the Address of Welcome as follows: GENTLEMEN OF THE SOUTHERN FORESTRY CONGRESS: It is possibly peculiarly fitting that the duty has been placed upon me of responding to a welcome to Arkansas. Up to about a week ago I had not put my foot in Arkansas, and during the week just passed, I have been roaming around, trying to get a little of the much needed rest, and learning something of the State. I have been over to Hot Springs, with an old college friend of mine and seeing through his glasses, and under his direction, I have formed a very good opinion of at least a corner of Arkansas. Yesterday morning I happened to be out driving with others, in the country from Hot Springs on a breakfast party, and I was particularly struck with the forest situation around Hot Springs. While we have the same situation in the State of West Virginia, and even Mr. Holmes will have to acknowledge a situation similar in North Carolina, I was impressed with the fact that Arkansas is interested in its forests and am now delighted to have heard from the Governor of this State such an emphatic expression of opinion as to his view on that subject. As Mr. Holmes has said, the Southern Forestry Congress has been roaming over the Southeastern United States since 1916, holding meetings. We have been welcomed by the Governors of many of the States at these meetings; we have been welcomed by finished orators, in some instances, but this is the first time I have heard any Governor at any of our meetings express himself with such absolute frankness and steadfast support as came from the Governor of Arkansas. I sincerely hope that the legislators of this State to whom he is appealing, will see this situation through his eyes, and will endeavor to get results; that the waste places of Arkansas will not become blossom fields, but will become great tracts of young, vigorous growing trees to take the place of those that are gone. PUBLIC OWNERSHIP OF FORESTS PRESIDENT J. S. HOLMES STATE FORESTER OF NORTH CAROLINA We have met here at a critical period in the history of our forests and forest industries. The transition is now well advanced from old growth mature timber, timber grown almost without cost to the land owner, to the new conditions when timber will be grown as other crops, with costs for seeding, thinning, protection and other overhead charges. We shall have completed the change before we realize it. Even here in Arkansas, where I was expecting to find one of the few remaining stands of the old hardwoods, I am told that only 12 per cent of the virgin timber remains uncut. Our future protective policy will no longer emphasize the protection of the old timber, but of the young seedlings and saplings. We, by our presence here, show that we recognize the situation. We are here to take council and lay plans for growing the crop which should make unnecessary the long trip and consequent high freight bill for lumber ships from the Pacific coast through the Panama Canal to New York, or the even more expensive rail trip across the continent. Twenty-five years ago with the establishment of the National Forests in the West, and ten years later by the passage |