The age-herald., 1899-02-09
SOUTH'S PROSPERITY
 IN WALL STREET
From the New York Times.

southern industries that has taken place during the past twelve months. The won- derful activity of the southern iron trade and the growing betterment of the south's cotton and mining industries have drawn the eyes of capital to that section Of the country, now just emerging from a period of depression.
 Scant attention, however, has been paid the south's lumber trade, and but little has been said written regarding the recent upbuilding and expansion of that industry. Yet, as a matter of fact, there has been no southern improvement more marked than Tn lumber Not only have prices advanced but there has been a substantial increase in the demand for southern timber, and conse- quently in it's production For many years previous to 1898 the big lumber interests of the south experienced hard times-hard times that forced many of the important concerns to the wall and left only the strongest of them standing. But in the past six months there has been a wonderful change in this situation. Lumber camps and lumber mills are now active where they were idle for years. and their products have in many instances been contracted for months ahead. And what is most signifi- cant in this lumber trade improvement is that it comes as a direct result of better ment in other southern lines and evidences general rehabilitation in the south.
 MT. Robert R. Sizer, of the lumber house of R. Sizer & Co.,, who has recently return ed from an extended trip through the south- ern lumber districts, talked at length on this topic to a representative of the New York. Times yesterday. MT. Sizer is enthu- siastic over the outlook for southern lum- Der, and. an experienced business man him. self, he is not enthusiastic because of any boom symptoms in the trade. He looks upon the improvement as natural and well warranted, and believes firmly in it's per- manency.
 Not in twenty years has yellow pine been in such request as it is today" said MT. Sizer. '"rhis is due wholly to natural causes. Yellow pine Is a product of the south and Gulf states, and from there the markets of the world get their supply. Tho demand for it is unprecedented for this time of the year, the active period ordina- rily beginning in April. The situation is that the mills of the south now have orders ahead for from sixty to ninety days, while the entire product of some of them has been SOlu liiS uSAl lOui anu lNC ihOhthS'
 "A fact not generally known is that the lumber interest is the largest of any in the country, exceeding that of either mining cotton, coal or grain. It has, however, been slow to respond to influences which have had marked and immediate effect upon oth- CT industries. Take, for example, the panic of 1893, when there was a general stoppage of all business activity. The lumber trade then he'd good until late in 1894. Then or ders ceased to come in; mills which were running up to their full capacity were stopped and in the intervening period the depression has been such that good many houses have been forced out of business while others have been obliged to operate on basis where lttle if any, profit has been realized.
 '',rhe demand for southern lumber means more than appears on the surface. Inc turpentine and resin industry, which has been hindered by the stagnation in the tlm Der trade, has received new impetus. The production is large and the main shipment to European ports. Consumption is run ming beyond the producing capacity. The process of getting the turpentine and resin is interesting. Three years before yellow  first yield is turpentine. The next year resin is acquired, and just before the tree is cut down it is thoroughly drained of all it's sappy substance. Then it is ready for conversion into timber. Another interest," ing fact is that during all the lumber de- precision, stumpage steadily advanced in price, showing how valuable good timber lands really are.
 Lumber dealers are jubilant over the %sx,.+. ft, fln trade come prices such as have not been approximated in the last decade Southern timber and it's allied products now com mand 20 per cent. more than last summers selling price. Sales for 1899 bid fair to ex- ceed the record of the best previous year. Car builders are today offering $3 more per 1000 feet than they paid only six weeks ago. This is a natural consequence. The tendency is upward.
 '"rhe new business era is responsible for the improvement Of the south's great lum- Der interest. Prime factors in it's develop ment have been the impetus recently given to railroad building and ship building Since 1895 the railroads have pursued d policy of retrenchment. Few cars were built, and the recent great movement of crops, together with the increased tax upon the facilities of transportation lines found the roads with an equipment un- equal to the demand. Ship building, so far as the lumber carrying trade is con- cerned, has for years been at standsti Now the railroads and the shipbuilders are buying lumber to use in the construction of cars and vessels, big cotton mills are going up all through the south, and, in my Judgment, not for long time will there be any relaxation to the present activity In the lumber trade
 1.-The cost of producing timber in the south is much greater than a few years ago. Forests have been wasted and so much timber has been cut out that mills have bean compelled to build railroads anywhere from twenty to one hundred miles to reach the sources of supply. There is, too, an immense loss in yellow pine sawdust, owing to the fact that way for it's utilization has not yet been discovered. In Maine and the northwest timber saw dust is worked into paper pulp, but owing to the amount of pitch and oil in the south- ern product, this cannot be done there.
 "In Georgia. Florida, Alabama and Mis- sissippi, the districts from which we get our yellow pine," continued MT. Sizer, "in fact all over the south, everywhere that me travels pau he eaap tho ax,;daoao. oA