The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-08-24
WEALTH IN TIMBER
The States Great Variety of
Hard and Soft Woods.
written for the News and Observer by
Mr. II. y. page)

ing and in spite of the old adage, figure.
do often lie. For this reason, as well
as for the greater one, that l know very
little about them, shall not put down in
dollars and cents, anything of the value
of North Cardinals timber.
The greatest enemy the State has ever
had was the man who introduced US
to the world as products of Tar, Pitch
and Turpentine," for by suggestion, he
melted a raid upon the States greatest
source of wealth While it gave en-
ployment to numbers of people, ana
brought no little money into the State,
it, at the same time, absolutely destroy
ed vast forests of yellow pine, outright;
Just behind the turpentine operators
came the forest fires which destroyed
millions of feet of timber annually, and
where stood the possibilities of thousands
of dollars is now a wilderness of black
lacks When the fire was kept out,
which was seldom, the fact that 1T was
liable at any time to come, made its
owner restless until he had found a
mill man who was ready to saw 1t into
lumber and sell it at sacrifice prices on
a market always supplied beyond its
demands The fact that the timber was
forced upon the buyer made it bring the
minimum of value. The mill man hav-
ing so bought it, was wasteful in its
manufacture, leaving upon the ground
all but the choicest; thus thousands of
dollars worth of the most valuable tim
Der that our State produces has gone
to waste.
As much as has been destroyed, the
timber still standing that can be con-
verted into marketable material, is the
States greatest source of wealth to-day
For, great as we are in the manufacture
of cotton goods land we are all proud
of the place the State has attained in
this line), and as much as we boast of
our mineral wealth-indeed we are rich
in minerals-as valuable as are the truck
farms of the East, the fruits and ber-
ries of the rapidly developing sand-hills;
let all of these placed on one side of the
account and the dollars that are brought
into our State from the timber will eX
coed them ALL This industry gives pro-
fitable employment to possibly as many
people as all of these other industries,
and the great bulk of freight to our
railroads. h a1r
There is a little town OF one thousand
people in North Carolina, which has
been for ten years the starting point
for thirty millions of feet of lumber,
which has brought back-say 100000
annually. This is only one out of an
hundred, the yearly income being at
least twice the capital Invested in the
business.
What we need, and are rapidly ac-
During, is the establishment of manu-
factories that will put all of this lum-
Der into Il finished state before it is
marketed Instead of selling quarter-saw-
ed oak for $50 per thousand feet, we
want it in furniture, mantels, etc, so
that every thousand feet will mean an
hundred dollars; our yellow pine SO
manufactured that it will go upon the
markets of the world as quarter-sawed
and finished flooring at $50 per thou
sand feet. instead Of ordinary stock at
~ and SO. We are learning economy.
Because of this, and the yearly enhanc-
ing value of the stock, the comparatively
small quantity of timber left standing
will bring more money than all that we
have used SO eXtrayagantly In the past.
There are plantations in North Caro-
lima, which have produced much corn
and cotton, the money value of which;
in the aggregate has been large, and yet
on many e. them, thu timber as it stood
before the fields were made, had it been
left standing would be worth to-day
more than the aggregate of ali the crops
which the land has produced.
Within the last SIX or elght months
there has been a fuller realization Of the
value of our timber than ut any previ-
Gus time, and in consequence, the price
of all of the products or the forests has
advanced phenomenally. For the first
time within ten years, the army of men
who are engaged in this industry are
getting from the investment of their
capital and their labor, returns that
make it profitable None of us will live
to see the day when the Manufacturer
who is up in his business and WHO makes
good lumber, will have TO beg for buy
ers; nor will we ever again have to ac-
cept prices that at best mean only swap
ping of dollars.
| would not, however, have any one
gather from what | have said that
there is an open field in this line OF
industry, or that the investment of
capital iii the manufacture of lumber is
sure to bring profitable raturns; be-
cause, as in every other business. ii is
know something about it, The history
Of the trade. during the last twenty
years. is full Of financially wrecked men
who have gone into the business with
no knowledge of it, and there are al
ready i'll mCst sections or the State
more manufactures than the timber
supply warrants. AS indicated above,
the only line that is not oyer-cPowded
Is in the using of the common product
Of the common mill, making it of more
value by manufacturing it into a finish
ed whether furniture or build
ing material. If some of our towns will
do as much to foster manufacturing es-
adjustments of this character as they
have done to secure cotton mills. they
will add as rapidly to their population
and the money invested will bring rem
TO twenty per cent annually. Not only
this, but they will create market for
the rough lumber near its point OF
manufacture. helping the mill man ana
keeping within the State thousands of
dollars.
Briscoe, n. c., August II, 1899,