The morning call., 1891-07-14
OUR LUMBER SUPPLY.

Some startling revelations are made In
the portion of the census tables which refers
to the lumber trade. The bulk of the lum-
Der of eommerce--which is chiefly white
pine-haS up to this time been derived
from the three States of Michigan, Wiscon-
sin and Minnesota. In the year 1890 the
mills in these States turned out about
9.500000,O00 feet of lumber, the bulk of
which went into immediate consumption.
Careful surveys of the amount of standing
white pine and other woods sold in the lum-
Der markets estimate that, at this rate of
consumption, the whole remaining supply
is only sufficient to last six years; in other
words. that in 1897 the white pine forests
will be exhausted. To prepare for a coming
deficiency the great lumbermen of the
Northwestern States have been buying tim
Der land in California, Oregon, Washington
and the Southern States, which have not
yet suffered severely from the ak. An area
amounting roughly to 100000 acres has
thus been secured, and it is reckoned that it
will yield about $4,000, O00,00 feet of fir
redwood, yellow pine, cypress, poplar and
other woods. At the present rate of con-
sumption this would supply the markets for
five years more. But at the expiration of
eleven years, say in 1892, the forests of the
whole country would be exhausted.
Eleven years is quite a period of time,
but they come to an end at last, and the
reader of the census report is impelled to in
quire what people will do when they do
end and there is no more pine lumber to be
had. a small additional supply may be
Obtained from Canada, but the timber limits
in that colony have been pretty thoroughly
worked. Beyond a certain line of north
meridian trees are stunted in their growth,
and are not available for building purposes.
Norway and Sweden, which are now large
exporters OF lumber, cannot do much more
than supply the demand in Great Britain
and on the continent of Europe. No other
country contains forests large enough to
equip the lumber yards which will be
empty if the supply from this country is
cut off.
1t is evident that in the next century the
place of wood will Fave to be taken-as
it is DOW to a large extent in Europe-by
brick, stone and iron. Houses will be built
of brick. Wooden structures will be
thing of the past. Iuexorable necessity VIII
extend the fire limits over the whole coun-
try. Fences will be constructed of stones
where they can be had, of wire where they
cannot. Large buildings will be erected CT
iron with some faeings. Steel will take
lAiO HliSO VI MbOu 1pL luLCllUI
for doors and sashes and for a number of
articles of furniture. Ships are already be-
ing built of steel, and wherever a wooden
brljge falls into decay a steel bridge takes
its place. Steel floors will not be convenient
until people get accustomed to them, and
steel chairs could hardly become popular.
But the substitution of non-combustible ma
terials for wood viii, at any rate. have the
advantage of diminishing fires.
The effect of an enormous increase in the
consumption of steel would put up its price
very materially, if no substitute for it could
be discovered. But the chances are that
we are on the eve of discovery of an arti-
Gle which can take the place of both steel
and wood-that is metallic aluminium. For
ten years or more this commodity has been
manufactured from common aluminium, but
the process of conversion has been so costly
as to keep the manufactured article out of
the market. Some day some one OF the
scientific men who are now experimenting
with aluminium will solve the problem, and
then the world will have an article cOmbin-
ing the ductllity and strength of steel with
the lightness of wood, and not worth more
than ordinary Bessemer steel. Houses and
ships can be built of il, and likewise every
article which goes to equip and furnish a
house. 1t is incombnstible; it does not de-
cay nor rust. There is absolutely no limit
TO the quantity of the raw material-it is
nothing more than common clay. which is
found everywhere in inexhaustble amounts
1t is not improbable that the aluminium
problem will be solved before 1902, in which
case the consumption of wood, would fall
of, and the forests might last twenty years
longer. Blu. the gradual advance in the
cost of lumber which seems inevitabl APP
pears to bode no good 10 the large and grow
ing industry in manufactures of wood In
these the United States leads the world.
Our woodenwares are in constant demand
in London, in Melbourne, and in every
large city in the world: the consumption of
ready-made houses constructed in New Eu-
gland and New York is steadily Increasing
in South America and in the treeless copn-
tries. This valuable industry would feel a
decline in the supply of raw lumber.