Daily camera., 1901-03-13
THE LUM BER SUPPLY.
There Is Plenty Of 1t Left in Onr
Pine Forests.
Although Exports and Consumption
Have Been Increasing Year After
Yenr There Is No Present
Prospect of Exhaustion.

States Is lHe lIlIN VI a ldBH JuSt
issued by the treasury bureau OF sta
tistics, Washington, The lumber in
dustry and trade, it finds, has within
quite recent years changed from a
small scale of production to one in
which machinery, large outlay of
capital and a far-sighted policy of de-
velopment of properties are becoming
controlling factors. This change is due
parity to the growth of domestic de
mand and partly to the fear of prema-
turely exhausting our timber re-
sources.
The existence of surplus capital look
ing for new fields of investment has had
a tendency to eliminate the small scale
lumberman and the pc,icy Of European
states in rigidly Uniting the annual
cut of lumber to something like the
rate of increase in the growth of for
est, has forced European lumber con-
suming interests to come to the United
States and Canada, especially for hard
woods and lumber for building pur-
poses. As result the foreign lumber
trade of the United States has grown
enormously. Within quite recent years
it has developedfrom local to world
wide cammg rcial movement.
In the foreign, trade the Atlantic
ports, the gulf ports and those on the
northern Pacific coast have shared
most libera ly. More lumber is now be-
ing shipped from these ports ard from
the country as whole than at any pre-
vious time in the history Of the country.
The total exports of timber, lumber
and manufactured wood for the fiscal
year ending June 80, 1900, amounted to
S5O,59l sos. showing balance of almost
exactly $3O,CoO,OOO of exports of this
class over imports. About half of these
imports came from Canada, consisting
mainly of planks. boards, logs and
shingles. Another principal feature in
our timber imports is the tropical tim
Der, including Cuban mahogany and
cedar and mahogany from Central and
South America ard Africa.
The wooded area of the United States,
according to the United States geolog-
ical survey, is i.O9i.i9G square miles or
81 per cent of the land area From this
standing supply of timber it is esti-.
mated that from 1880, GOO, ,00O.000 10
100000, ,OCO,OOO of board measure feet
of lumber are available. The annua,
lumber cut has been estimated for ths
year 1899 at 4O.O00.0O0 GOO of board
measure feet: that is, We cut approx
mately two per cent. of our national
timber resources annually. OF this cut
l3.OOO,00O,0GO are credited to the lake
region. 100000 GOO to the southern
states. 6.G00. 100000 to the northwest
and north Atlantic states, 5000, ,OO0,G0O
to the central states, 4OOO. .1OO.OOO to the
Pacific states and 2,OO0.OOO,OO0 to the
mountain states, according TO the New
Orleans Lumber Trade Journal. These
figures are. however, only an approx
nation on the part of those familiar
with the industry as a whole. yet they
indicate that our timber supply is not
disappearing at an alarming rate, pro
vided the destructive waste of forest
fires can be prevented.
The timbered territory of the coun-
try covers five different sections. from
which commercial distribution is
made. Beginning with New England,
the output of Maine is still the leading
feature of this section and the middle
states, from the Adirondacks and
northwestern Pennsylvania. still sup
ply a considerable market of more or
less local character. The greatest
areas of standing timber are found in
the southern states, where the long
leaf and the short leaf pine and the
cypress are the leading features. In
the lake region of the northwest, in
Guiding Michigan, Wisconsin and Min
nesota, we have the largest output,
where the white pine and hemlock are
the leading features. The Pacific coast
section includes the pine and fir for
ests of Washington and Oregon and the
red wood of California as the leading
kinds of timber. The Rocky mountain
states are as yet of subordinate com
mercial Importance compared with the
southern, northwestern and Pacific
states.
A comparison Of southern exports of
timber, lumber and manufactures
thereof with the total from the United
States shows that southern ports fur
nish ss per cent of the sawed timber
exported, 81 per cent. of the hewn
timber, "a per cent. of the logs, etc, 6S
per cent. of the boards, deals and
planlls, n per cent. of the joints and
scantlings, 81 per cent. of the slaves, IS
per cent. of all other lumber and 10 per
cent. of the manufactured lumber-a
exhibit of the progress
which southern lumber products have
made in our foreign trade.
The CaisxOn WOrker'a StOry