Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1900-11-29
A COMING WOOD FAMINE.

A COMING WOOD FAMINE.
The world is using more wood for
structural purposes THANH is producing
This fact is brought out in work by NJ
Melard, published by the French ma
tional printing Office. His arguments
and conclusions are Summarized in a
recent number OF the Revue Scientiiique,
Which have been translated by the Lit
erary Digest.
According to NJ. Meiara. the forestry
situation Of tile world can be stated as
follows: The consumption of wood is
greater than the normal production oc
accessible forests. and there IS thus Il
continual deficit which IS made up, foi,
the moment, by the destruction o: for
ests: The author undertakes 10 demon
stratss this by showing that the coiir-
tries of the @orld tina / are the greatest
consumers OF wood, not being able 10
supply their owl wants. are importing
annually considerable quantity of
wood for structural purposes. He goes
ION to stare that in the five years from
lss4 to 1855 Francs has been obliged 10
import annually more than l4o,oO0,09o
francs ts2S -0ee,D00) worth of wood Of
this kind, while exporting it only to the
value Of 42,uoeo0o francs $500 0oG) The
trouble is. the author believes, that too
,,1it,,L ,yr,o3 ,s ,rf,,f,, 60. fi,s !.
enough for construction. The same is
u-ae in other countries. England,s sex-
ports of wood have fallen to practically
nothing; the same is true of Holland.
Belgium, with u per cent of her terri
tory forest land, has an annual wood
deficit OF 100000 600 francs ts2O. 600 ,O0o).
Germany, Spain, Bulgaria, Greece,
Turkey, Italy, servia, switzerland-all
import more wood than they export.
Says the writer:
These Importers of wood have a col
5lectiye population that represents 81 per
cent of the total population Of Europe,
and those among them that are the
.
gland, Germany, France and Belgium,
are the ones in which industry is most
fourishing, commerce most active, the
production of metals and coal the most
intense. This goes to confirm what has
been said above OF the impulse given to
the consumption of wood by Industrial
RI
be used have varied, but not diminished
The insufficient production of wood
in these countries is made up at pres
ent by supplies from Austria II ungary
Sweden and Norway. Finland, Russia,
Roumania, Bosnia Herzegovina the
United States and Canada. These
sources are Of different value and some
Of them, it would appear, are in no con-
dition to supply, for any length OF time,
the demands Of the consuming coun-
tries
The writer goes on to justify this last
statement by a detailed examination Of
each country's resources, in the course
~ NaAISAA ~ dpPGdIo l1lell Inc demand for
wood for the manufacture of paper
pulp is proving a very great factor in
the problem. The use of wood for fuel
is decreasing, but this new use is in
creasing very rapidly, so much SO that,
as shown in recent article in these
pases, It is difficult to supply the de-
a IA
must either find some other cheap veg
etable fiber from which to make our pa
per. or give up the use of wood for
structural purposes. In any case. there
is likely to be wholesale destruction
of forests before this alternative is I'M
pressed on the public mind with sufii-
Gent force.