The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1893-04-02
FORESTS NOT BEING DESTROYED
Henry Garrett Says Timber Grows Faster
Than It 10 Used.

Henry Garrett says Timber Grows Faster
Than It H Used.
We are not at present using timber - fast q
Il grows. Every year 5000 900 900 70 10000 600
cubic feet arc added to our capital by growth.
So long - this condition of things exists it
seems scarcely necessary to bestir ourselves
about preserving forests from the Ak. 1t would
appear, also, to be true economy to further the
use of wood In place OF coal and the metals
wherever IL answers the purpose a. we'll For
instance. the substitution of iron for wooden
railroad ties does not appear to be in the diEec-
ton OF true economy, ut least - long a. our
supply of wood continues in excess Of the de-
mand The drafts upon our supply Of iron ore
are enormous and are constantly increasing, and
all these drafts are made upon the capital and
not, as in the case of timber, upon the income
from the capital
Nothing has been said of the useless destruc-
ton of timber. The chief enemy OF the forest 10
fire. Each year large areas of timber are de-
stroyed by this agency. and much lumber and
firewood are wasted in numbering ana clearing
operations How extensive this useless destruc-
ton of timber is it 10 impossible to estirnate.
To prevent this waste entirely is, of course,
impossible To reduce it il easy; indeed. it 10
now being reduced rapidly by agencies already
In operation. Cheap transportation to market
is. by the consequent enhancement Of value of
timber land, acting an a powerful protective
agency. Timber land, accessible to market, 10
seldom ravaged by fire. On such land the tim
Der cut for clearing is not suffered to rot on the
ground or burned to get rid OF it Every part of
. tree that Is of value is put to use.
In earlier times the wAste. both from fires and
from clearing, was much greater than at
present Indeed. 1t 10 probable that one, two or
three generations ago the destruction of lumber,
including under this word the timber which 10
put to use and that which is wasted, was a.
great as Onw, although our population was In
those years much smaller. Forest fires were
more abundant and destructive. The timber
cut for clearing was put to no use, except for
the cabin and rail fence Of the settler
think may safely 60 further and venture
the assertion that there 10 today nearly. If not
quite, Is great an area of woodland In the
United States as when the white man set foot
on our shores. By this statement 1t IL not TO
be understood that the amount of merchantable
timber 10 a. great a. then, but that upon nearly
II not quite a. large area of timber 10 grow
ing. The extent OF artifcially cleared land in
the wooded region Of the country Is not far
from 80 600 square miles, or less than one-tenth
the area of the country, - IL shown by the CEN
sus reports Against this 10 to be Get the great
extension of woodland In recent years in the
prairie states and even n many of the
wooded states. The Shenandoah valley was in
Jenerson's time an open prairie. as were other
great areas Of adjoining states The frequent
growth OF timber in areas now forested.
There 10 every probsbf.aly that, In spite of the
large consumption Of wood In the industries,
and the waste BY fires and other agencies, the
area OF woodland Is increasing. This 10 GER
tainly true as regards the prairie and plain
states. aud those states in the northern part of
the country in which the rural element of the
population is diminishing, a. agriculture
gives place to manufactures aud COM
merce, which require the aggregation of
population in cities. Such conditions prevail
in Massach usetts, Rhode Island and Connecti-
cut and parts of New York. New Jersey and
Pennsylvania, where old FARMS abandoned to
wood, are 20 frequently seen. In this, the most
densely settled part Of the country, 40 to 50 per
cent of its area, or nearly one-half, is woodland
at present
With what has been presented, it would ap-
pear that, in general, the "laissez faire' policy
seems to be the best that can be devised for the
protection and use Of our forests The legiti-
mate use of our forests should not be limited
even If 1t could be, which is very doubtful. The
development of means of ransportation to mar
kets, ana the increase In value given to timber
lands thereby, 10 the most efficient method of
reducing the waste of forest products. 1t 10
only in limited localities in the mountain re-
gious, such - those in the arid country, where
the conditions are not especially favorable to
timber growth. that it seems worth while to at
tempt to protect forests. Elsewhere they will
protect themselves, and the protection will be-
come the more perfect 40 the timber product
becomes more valuable. HENRY GANNETr.