Proclamation 3556—National Forest Products Week, 1963

Whereas the broad and varied forests of our Nation constitute one of its most important resources--renewable, versatile, and available; and

Whereas this forest resource, under both public and private ownership, provides basic raw materials for tremendous quantities of essential industrial and consumer products such as lumber, paper, building materials, chemicals, furniture and cloth; offers a productive outlet for a large segment of our Nation's labor force and industrial capability; and, with a broader application of scientific knowledge, affords an outstanding opportunity for the improvement of economic and social conditions in our forested rural areas; and

Whereas the Congress, wishing to re-emphasize the importance and the possibilities of our forest heritage, has by joint resolution approved September 13, 1960 (74 Stat. 898, designated the seven-day period beginning on the third Sunday of October in each year as National Forest Products Week, and has requested the President to issue an annual proclamation calling for the observance of that week:

Now, Therefore, I, John F. Kennedy, President of the United States of America, do hereby call upon the people of the United States to observe the week beginning October 20, 1963, as National Forest Products Week, with activities and ceremonies designed to direct public attention to the significance of our forests in the overall economy of our Nation, and especially as a foundation for improving the rural economy.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States of America to be affixed.

DONE at the City of Washington this 24th day of September in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and eighty-eighth.

JOHN F. KENNEDY

By the President:

GEORGE W. BALL,

Acting Secretary of State