Survey Shows American Forests Fulfv Able to Supply Increased Requirements of Nation at War

Washington, Dec. 23-A year-end survey of the capacity of American forests disclosed today that, despite the coming year's war-time increase in requirements for all forms of forest products, timber resources in this country will be more than able to supply the nation's needs.

According to I. N. Tate, president of American Forest Products Industries, Inc., national trade association, the forest products industries will face in 1942 the "heaviest production responsibility in their history," but are confident "there will be no shortage."

Mr. Tate's year-end statement continued:

"fn estimating 1942 demands for lumber, plywood, pulpwood, and other forest products, it is a fact that they will be used in many ways to relieve the war-time strain on critical materials-especially the metals.

"Forest products will not build a field gun or a tank, but wider use in defense industry is releasing materials indispensable for actual fighting tools. More than 1,000,000 men are trained to work in wood. No time-consuming plant expansion or re-tooling is necessary in applying forest products to war-time needs.

"Already forest products have begun to replace the previously extensive use of metal foils. Solid oak barrels are replacing those of steel. Desks, chairs, and a wide range of other furniture items are again being manufactured exclusively of wood in place of aluminum and steel.

"Thousands of tons of steel will be saved through the increased use of lumber in the manufacture of over 100,000 freight cars scheduled for 1942. The list of other ways in which forest products will save critical materials is virtually endless.

"Technological and engineering improvements are an additional factor spurring the use of forest products as ,substitutes for metals. One example is the current widespread employment of a metal 'connsqfes'-rvsighing only a few ounces-as a means of joining wood members in beams and trusses capable of bearing loads previously entrusted only to steel. The demand for lumber, plywood, and woodpulp products to assume jobs previously shared with the metals comes on top of the execution of one of the biggest carpentry jobs in history$11,000,000,000 worth of construction in l94l of. the thousands of buildings needed.quickly by the Army and Navy and for civilian Purposes.

"By June of last year the Army had 1,418,000 men in camps and cantonments constructed almost entirely of forest products, including 2,137,00fJ,Offi board feet of lumber.

"Troop housing was only one of many building types. The Army needed forest products for portable bridges, hospitals, recreation centers, warehouses, laboratories, chapels, offices, me,ss halls, hangars, shipping crates, models, rifle stocks, ammunition boxes, and many other necessary items. The Navy, too, required duplications of many of these buildings, plus lumber-built mine layers, mine sweepers, mosquito boats, coast guard cutters, battleship decking, shipways, docks, and drydocks. For wood ships the Industry is supplying the Navy with huge timbers, 108 feet long. "These military items are supplemented by thousand,s of new factories and over one-half million new homes for defense and civilian workers.

"Contributions of wood pulp and paper made from wood pulp to national defense were similarly important. Faced with a sudden curtailment of pulp imports, the American pulp and paper industry had the biggest job in its history dumped in its lap.

"Reliable estimates of the 1941 consumption of forest products compared with 194O are: Lumber-34,000,000,000 feet, as compared with 29,000,000,000 feet; pulpwood15,000,000 cords, as compared with 13,000,000 cords; plywad-2.000,000,000 feet, as compared with 1,500,000,000, and veneer-933,000,000 feet against 813,000,000 feet.

"More than 43 per cent of the 9,000,000 tons of paperboard manufactured last year was used for defense purposes. Defen,se requirements also used 29 per cent of the 2,800,000 tons of wrapping paper produced in this country, 4O per cent of 800,000 tons of fine paper, and 9 per cent of

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