Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1905-09-14
STUMPAGE VALUES.
In The Northwest sure. To- In
CREASE IN near FUTURE.
Mississippi Valley LumbermaM Com.
ments on Paper on "Future Stump.
age Values" Read at NeeEing Of
PaCafiC Coast Lumber Eianufac-
turerS' Association, Tacoma.

| tdNobN NOdSt GuUuO(u TboItU10kS
turerS' Association, Tacoma.
| In a paper on Future Stumpage VAL
ues" read before the recent sem,.annual
meeting OF the Pacific Coast En,nber as.
sociatiOn at Tacoma, W. l. Ewart takes a
| rosy view Of the future, especially as ii
will affect the owners of'timber. and ia
cidentally gives some figures of the stand
OF timber in the states Of the. far west.
Mr.. Ewart is in a position to give oassiul
estimates of ahe amount Outstanding him.
Der, for he has made the matter a study
and business during.t he. past two years.
He believes that the increase in the val.
ue Of stuIspage will be. more rapid i'm the
future than it has beea in past years, be-
cause of the increase IN the annual con-
sumption of lumber in the country, be.
cause Of the rapid decrease in She amount
of standing timbes in many Of the older
parts OF the United States. and because
large proportions OF the standing timber
is getting into the. possession Of those
who better appreciate its value and are
better able To hold it for what it Is worth.
He says thar thirty years ago the stand.
ing timber Of Wisconsin and Min lesota
was worth just about the same figures
now commanded by the timber of WASH
, ington and Oregon This he places at
81 so per thousand feet. He places the
average value Of yellow pine timber at S.
per thousand at the present time and
J saws that the chief opposition to vest
coast lumber is now, and will be ior some
: years, found in the south. 1t is oSyious
. then that every increase in the value Of
southern stumpage ought to be accom-
panied by corresponding Increase in
! the value Of the stumpage Of the far
n west.
4 In estimating the increase in value ol
! far west stumpage that is to come in the
. future, both the composition and amount
J., OF standing timber in the south must be
taken into consideration. The amour,
Of standing yellow pine timber IN the
south is placed at three hundred billion
feet. Including the estimated stand o
. timber in British Columbia and Alberta
the stumpage OF the far west is placed al
e eight hundred billion feet, of which sever
!. hundred billion is in Washington, Ore
It gon, California, Idaho and Montana
s The annual rate OF consumption OF lum'
j. ber in the United States is placed at fifty
o billion feet. This would exhaust the
g timber Of The nth in six years, and thai
,of the Pacific coast in fifteen years there
VI after, if there were no other source o.
:. supply. and there is no other source
e whence can come supplies Of any consi |.
/. erable amount. From this it is evident
Il that the increase in values must be com
l. paratively rapid in the next few years.
It A great deal Of complaint is heard now
l. adays of the high price of lumber, but
: Is safe to say that those who complain dc
/. not know how little profit there is in its
y manufacture for lhe mill man. In the
$ upper Mississippi valley. for instance
u the selling price of lumber is based on
i the competit on between the woods Offer
el on the market. White pine lumber
is high, but it does not command the
market because yellow pine and west
!, coast lumber is offered freely, and one or
/ the other can be used in the place Of
f.; white pine for almost every purpose.
t The price OF yellow pine and fir is based
' on stumpsge vaIne of three dollars for
Y the former and a dollar and a half for
4 the latter. West coast lumber that sells
. Tor twenty dollars thousand IN Mime.
apolis only nets the manufacturer eight
dollars thousand at the mill. A dollar
and half OF that is absorbed by the
stnmpage, leaving only six dollars and a
half for profits, logging and manufactur-
, ing.
dollar and half thousand is a
very low stumpage value, and even the
three dollars estimated as the present
value OF southern pine stumpage is not
high. Both of these are bound to ad.
vance, and it is evident that one or two
OF several results will follow. Either the
freight rates from the south and from the
west will be lowered. the manufacturers
will have to be satisfied with still smaller
profits, or the price OF lumber will ad-
vance. As already shown, the margin of
profit for the mill man is not large at
present prices and present stumpage val
ues, hence the chances are that the in
creaseed prices of stumpage will be alb.
sorbed by lowering the freight rates from
the sources of supply or an increase in
the selling price Of lumber. Whatever
happens, it looks as though the owner of
the timber would receive the greatest
benefit, and as MIR. Ewart says, "as usu-
al, the big end of the deal will 90 to the
man who owns the trees"