by BERWYN B. THOMAS, Research Division, Rayonier Inc., Shelton, Washington, U.S.A.
Few people, probably, would think of the Post Office as a good place to advertise, but when it chooses it can be one of the best. It offers the advertiser an attractive, low-cost, mass-produced medium, frequently used by everyone and widely distributed throughout the world. What is this advertising medium? The postage stamp.
Illustrations used on postage stamps are generally of persons or scenes significant to the countries which issue them. Often, these have dealt with forests and forest industries - the story of the occurrence of trees around the world, the methods of harvesting them and the uses to which they are put, and the need for conservation and improvement of the forests (Figure 1).
A collection of postage stamps based on this theme was prepared originally for display at the annual Forest Festival at Shelton, Washington, which in 1953 celebrated the centennial of logging in that area. In its mounted form the collection includes about 180 stamps. Representative groups of these stamps are shown with this article, and this written commentary is intended to describe their significance. 1
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This article is published by courtesy of Pulp & Paper -The Management and Production Journal of the Pulp and Paper Industry, Chicago, Ill., U.S.A. Photographs are by W.J. McCleary.
Trees around the world - uses of wood - conservation
Depletion of the natural resources has been much discussed in recent years. Modern civilization demands manufactured goods, chemical products, and food at an ever-increasing pace. Yet our resources of oil, coal, minerals - even the soil -when once used or dissipated can never be replaced.
Throughout history forests have been among the greatest raw material sources. Trees have been a necessity of life for fuel, tools, shelter, and for their fruits as food. Modern technology has added paper, fibers, chemicals, and other uses for wood, and still more developments can be expected in the future. Because of the diversity of its applications, wood has been called the "universal raw material".
Yet history also records great nations which have grown rich on the wealth of their forests, only to dwindle when the trees were gone and the bare land ruined by erosion. The timbers of the Lebanese cedars built the Temple of Solomon, but little remains of them today. China once had extensive forests but is now swept by recurring floods from the eroded earth left bare by their removal.
If this is not to happen again -if wood is truly to be the universal raw material - the growth of forests must be maintained equal to the rate of use, and the best and most useful trees must be made to grow as rapidly as possible. The conservationist and the botanist say these problems can be solved, and much has already been done, particularly by the pulp and paper industries. One of the essential factors in the attainment of the goal is public recognition of the problems and co-operation in working out solutions.
Forests and trees 2
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Figures 2 - 5
General forest scenes have been pictured on stamps by countries in the Americas, in Europe, Polynesia, and Africa. In much of Asia large forests are a thing of the past, and their absence is reflected in the scarcity of postal forest pictures.
It has been estimated that nearly 100 species of trees can be identified on stamps, though many others of unknown species have also been pictured and many appear frequently. These include pines, cedars, palms, oaks, mango, mahogany, labuan, the acacia and baobab of legend, and bamboo, which is often used as timber. The distribution of tree types over the world is evident, too. Palms abound on stamps from the tropical countries, especially the Pacific islands, and softwoods on issues from the temperate regions. Hardwoods are more generally distributed.
A few individual trees have been made famous in history, such as the Charter Oak, the historically similar Proclamation Tree of Australia and the great Tree of Panama. Cuba has especially honored its Tree of Fraternity.
Certain species of trees have acquired symbolic qualities through traditional use, such as the olive branch of peace, the laurel of victory, the palm of honor, and the oak of strength. Some of these appear in Figure 4. Another symbolism for which trees are used is the sprouting of a new shoot or planting of a seedling to represent the birth or renaissance of a nation. This has been used postally by Germany and Czechoslovakia in 1919 and by Italy in 1946.
In the desert regions trees make oases, where life is possible. In the colonization of America, on the other hand, dense forests had to be removed to make way for settlements.
Trees planted in ornamental gardens or avenues have been pictured on many stamps, such as those of Japan and Yugoslavia. Poems about trees have been recalled by stamps, and Russia has reprinted in full color paintings by famous artists which show trees in fields and forests.
Since living trees yield many prominent agricultural products, there are numerous stamps picturing all kinds of fruits, chicle, rubber, coffee ("The coffee of El Salvador is the best in the world") and other products. These are touched on only lightly in this collection as they are outside its primary purpose.
Logging 3
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Figures 5 and 6.
Turning now to cutting of timber for use, we find numerous postal illustrations of the steps in this process. Several European countries have shown the woodcutter at work with axe or saw. Italy has depicted the sawing of planks with the old-style pit saw.
Nigeria, the Cameroons and British Honduras have all shown the felling of trees from elevated platforms, but their practice differs from that of the Pacific Northwest in that the platforms extend around the tree and are supported by poles. Mahogany is one species cut in this manner. Newfoundland over 40 years ago showed a group of lumberjacks standing in their camp at Red Indian Lake, while a 1949 Canadian stamp pictured the use of portable power saws.
Methods of handling logs which have been pictured postally include ox teams in the Newfoundland snow, hand labor, and elephants in the teak forests of Burma. Truck logging appears on a new issue from British Honduras, while Yugoslavia suggests rail transport. Rafting of logs in rivers is a very popular subject; at least eight countries in Europe, Africa, and tropical America have shown river runs ranging from single logs to great rafts bearing their own crew huts.
Wood utilization 4
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Figures 6- 8.
The uses of wood which are shown on or suggested by postage stamps are indeed innumerable. Primitive weapons, fuel, tools, and shelter were largely wooden, and many such uses continue today. One of the largest uses of wood is for lumber in housing and other construction. Many wooden buildings have been shown on stamps. A recent United States commemorative stamp shows the old frame home at Oyster Bay, New York State, of Theodore Roosevelt. A Polish stamp shows the stark charred beams of a bombed-out building after the blitzkrieg of 1939, while Austria depicted wooden scaffoldings in a reconstruction issue. House furnishings, also, are largely wooden.
Other major wood-consuming fields are the transportation and communication industries. In these fields postage stamps have pictured wooden ships, stage coaches, covered wagons, early airplanes and gliders, railways ties, freight cars and wooden packing cases. Several early woodburning locomotives and ships have also appeared.
Pulp and paper 5
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Figure 8.
Next there is the manufacture of pulp and paper, which in 1952 consumed 26,500,000 tons of wood in the United States alone. The United States, however, has never directly recognized the industry postally.
On the other hand, the first paper mill in Newfoundland, built by British interests at Grand Falls, was shown on a Newfoundland stamp of 1910. The Corner Brook mills have also been shown on the issues of 19301949. A Finnish stamp honoring a forestry conference showed a pulp mill.
Canada, in 1952, issued a striking stamp to advertise its leading industry (Figure 1b), which might be said to portray the neatest job of continuous delignification of wood into paper that has yet been devised.
Paper itself has been recognized postally in the anniversaries of early printing presses, famous books, the Press Association, and the famous newspaper publisher, Joseph Pulitzer. The availability of wood-fiber papers in the past century has made possible the rapid rise in literacy and the spread of knowledge among the peoples of the world. In fact, it may be considered responsible for the large number of stamp collectors and the great profusion of stamps issued.
Derivatives of wood 6
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Figure 9
Other large quantities of wood are more highly refined to chemical cellulose. Some of the uses of this product which are found on postage stamps are rayon for the textile industry and auto tyres, photographic film, plastic objects and explosives.
The waste liquors of the sulphite pulping process are a great potential source of future chemical products. One of the best developed uses for waste liquor is its fermentation to ethyl alcohol. An alcohol still and the formula C2H2OH have actually appeared on a Japanese stamp.
Conservation 6
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Figure 9
Finally there are stamps representing that part of the theme-conservation-which is so necessary if all the demands of the foregoing uses of wood are to be met. Carl von Linné, or Linnaeus, the first great systematic botanist, has been pictured by his homeland, Sweden. Botanical gardens have been established to study and display the growth of trees and national parks to preserve samples of virgin growth for future observers. Such gardens and parks have been shown on stamps by the U.S., Russia, Japan, Brazil and other countries.
Public interest and assistance in programs of reforestation and forest management are encouraged by several means with postage stamps. Arbor Day, established in the United States in 1872, was commemorated by a 1932 stamp. Similar issues have appeared as promotion in Japan (Figure 1c), the Philippines, the Ryukyu Islands, and Italy. The future rural owners and farmers of the United States have been trained in conservation or forest management by the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, the 4-H Clubs, and the Future Farmers of America. All these organizations have been honored by recent commemorative stamps.
In addition to postage stamps, the United States Government has given postal aid to conservation through use of the slogan - "Only YOU can prevent forest fires" - in the cancelling machines of many post offices. Some postage-meter slogans have been seen, especially from European sources, which include symbols and publicity for forestry and wood-using industries.
This, then, is the story which is told in the world's stamps - the availability of wood and its unique properties have brought it into wide and diverse use throughout the world. These uses will increase, and the supply must be guarded and maintained, for there is no other renewable raw material for all our future needs.
