Arizona republican., 1903-08-31
Question of Supplying the Market of the Orient
RUSSIAN COMPETITION
On Account of the Supply From Ore- son North and the Ease With Which the Market May Be Reached This Country Is We'll Fixed.

partment of commerce and labor through it's bureau oi statistics. The bureau recently received and published reports of American consuls in the orient which announced the arrival of the first cargo of lumber in the Chin csc market by a Russian vessel from Vladivostock. This fact opens the question of future competition for the oriental market between the American lumber interests on the Pacific coast on the one hand. and that of the Rus sians in Siberia and on the Yalu river, on the other.
 In both cases enormous resources are awaiting development. The Amer ican industry of the Pacific coast has the advantage of organization on large scale and of mechanical equip ment uneQualled by that of any other field in the world. This is evidenced hy the rate oi annual production. Un- official estimates put the annual cut of lumber and shingles of the three Pa cific states at 4,6OO. .O0O, ,O0O feet, of which California supplies S60,0OO.OOO feet; Oregon 740.0G0.000 feet and Washing ton 2.300, ,000,OG0 feet. At this rate it is calculated that the forests of the Pacific coast will be exhausted ill forty years.
 As it would naturally be expected, the Pacific iumbermen have been rapidly enlarging their area and vol ume of commercial distribution. both in the foreign and the domestic mark cts. According to figures gathered by the bureau of statistics. the redwood shipments from upper California, mostly to San Francisco and the south ern coast in 1902 amounted to 260.597- 6O5 feet. In addition to this, the Cali fornia coast alone in 1902 received 6O6.lO2,9S2 feet of pine and fir, in 1901. 403,245,540 feet and in 1900, S70,25S.913 feet. The rate of increase, as Will be seen by comparison of these figures is enormous.
 Further north on the coast the trade in lumber has been expanding with corresponding strides. Shipments by water alone a Seattle were 564, AZ, ,S01 feet of lumber in 1902 and 506. .964, 749 feet in 1901. A movement of almost equal proportions is taking place to points in the interior by rail. In 1902 rail shipments to the interior amounted to 562, ,175,0 ,000 feet and in 1901 to 364 ,530- 900 feet The number of shingles sent east of the Cascade mountains eXtend- ing into the territory east of the Mis- souri river and, in many cases, as far as the lakes, amounted to 5,0SO.640, 900 in 1902, and 4,4S5. .60O,OOO in 1901. The traffic furnished to railroads in 1901 aggregated g, S37 cars of lumber and shingles from Seattle alone and 69. .231 cars in 1902.
 Rail shipments from Tacoma, in cluding both lumber and shingles. were 3,141 cars in 190O 4,52O cars in 1901 and 6,026 cars in 1902.
 Portland, Oregon. shows a traffic toward tha in h,- aplyi next to Seattle in importance. In the calender year 1900. 11.9S6 cars of lum- Der were shipped from this port, 13,511 in 1901 and 15,S76 cars in 1902
 As the above figures indicate, one of the most noteworthy facts in con- nection with the development of the Pacific coast lumber trade is it's in creasing contribution to the trans-con- tinental tonnage for railroads on the way back from the Pacific coast east ward. The opening of the Mississippi valley to the Pacific coast lumbermen likewise brings the export trade from the coast into closer relations with the demands of the domestic consumer. The consumer in the Mississippi valley is directly interested in the progress of numbering, both in the northwestern states and in the southern states as main sources of supply. The entire east is chiefly dependent on both of these sources. Consequently all domes- tic industries and interests, relying on the lumber supply of the future, are concerned with the prospective ability of any foreign competitor to share the foreign market, and thus to affect the rate of domestic output and its ratio to domestic demand.
 The relative importance of foreign to domestic demands, so far as the Pacific coast is concerned, IS not easi- ly ascertained. There are, however, a few figures bearing on the subject. The principal mills for the state of Wash ington for 1892 reported that 3S6,172,- 3S8 feet were sent to coastWiSe deStina- tions, and 153, 3,115654 feet to foreign destinations. If this ratio holds good for the coast as a whole, it would ap- pear that nearly 30 per cent of the out put goes to foreign and 10 per cent to domestic uses.
 From present indications the United States has nothing to fear from her rivals in the lumber trade of the Pa cific. Ultimately. the Philippine is lands will no doubt contribute ma terialIy to the supply. The trade from the Pacific coast Of the United States is now in q strong position.
 During the fiscal year, 1902. the United States exported 1492, 499 ,000 feet of lumber and sawed timber, of which 1,22O,S ,OOO feet were sent from the Pacific coast. The exports of wood and manufactures thereof advanced from $26, ,OOO, ,OOO in 1893 to s57,OOO,00O in 1903; lumber, the largest item, in creased in value from $9,O0O,OO0 in 1893 to 21,OOO, 900 in 1903.
 Since 1893 the Chinese empire, Hong, British Australasia, Peru and Chili, have, together, doubled the value of American luInher iInnorted.