The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-09-10
THE OLD FIREwooD QUESTION.
The Sources of Supply and the I'M
probability of Their Exhaustion.

probability of Their Exhaustion.
At certain intervals the declaration
is made either that the worlds coal
supply is rapidly giving out or that the
worlds wood supply, through the reck-
less and indiscriminate destruction of
remaining forests, is nearly at an end.
Fortunately, however. for all those who
require or think they require warmth
In winter the two alarms do not occur
simultaneously. If they did, the inquiry
which they evoke would probably call
for examination Of the matter, which
neither one seems to justify. A few
years ago the discovery of natural gas
in the West worked great havoc with
the fears of the alarmists concerning
the worlds coal supply, but recently
the forestry alarmists have been deeply
stirred by the assertion that at the
present ratio of destruction there would
not be a tree left in the United States
in a certain number of years, which has
aroused the fears of the pessimists.
An official statement well calculated
to reasSure them, however, comes from
the British Consul-General at st. Pc
tersburg, who has sent to the London
Foreign office some account of the un-
used Russian forests which shows in
the province of Archangel, where the
Crown forests cover SS,079, 400 acres the
Telling of trees has not much more than
begun. He says that hitherto virgin
forests of the Petchora Basin are open
ed up for trade, and new mills have
been built one at Archangel. one at
Pushlakta, and one, too, at Kola, on
the Lapland coast.
The whole worlds consumption of
ttptg, i,,1 a Ig,
100000 cubic feet, of which almost ex-
actly one-half is used for frewood and
the other half for building operations
of all kinds-houses, bridges, ships, We
hicles, furniture and ornamentaton.
Russia uses three times as much wood
for fuel as it does for building. The
United States uses twice as much for
building as il does for fuel. There are
three countries from which in large
amounts wood is exported to other
lands. the United States, Canada and
Norway and Sweden. There are three
countries which, by reason of their
dearth of wood, import it in considers
able amount. These are England,
France and Spain.
Before 1860 the local forests supplied
England with most of the wood it used.
Since 1850 and in increasing ratio, wood
has been imported into Great Britain
chiefly from Canada and the United
States. Last year, during the fiscal year
ending June, 1893, American lumber to
the value of sec, 900 900 was sent to other
countries. The larger amount of this
was in the form of boards and planks.
There was a considerable sum of logs
and rough wood. too OF Americas ex-
ports Of wood, manufactured, S6,000,-
900 was sent 10 Great Britain 81, 5000 900
to Germany. $3,5OOOOO worth To Eu-
ropean countries other than England,
France and Germany, 100000 worth
to Canada, and 81 600 900 to Mexico.
Despite the statement of alarmists
the American supply of wood is prac-
tically ineXhaustible. The importation
of woods of all kinds into the United
| States amounts in value to about SIS
| 100000 a year, of which a very large
proportion comes from Canada, Mexico
| and Central American States sending
| large quantities of mahogany and other
| fine woods. An increase in American
| sources of export is To be looked for
| before very long i'm Cuba and Porto
| Rico, the former country being enor-
| mously rich in large quantities of the
| valuable woods, and under Spanish di-
| Iection or indrectiOn, the opportunities
of this item of export have been ne
| elected. There is more lumber in the
world, and it is said forests cover
about 10 per cent. Of the earths land
area, and about 25 per cent. of Europe.
The highest yield is i'm the United King
dom. namely, 60 cubic feet of timber
AN acre, and the annual Telling OF tim
ber is hardly half what 1t might De
without reducing the forest resources
| Of ha world