The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1907-09-25
n LUMBER SUPPLY.

ne IOMo6n oOTVII
The increased cost OF lumber is the
subject of discussion in q bulletin is.
sued by the forest service of the U. S.
department Of agriculture. which calls
attention to the fact that the old pro.
cess of exhausting the supply OF timber
In q region and then seeking new fields
is practically over. Already the lum.
Der industry is turning back on its
tracks. A quality of timber is eager.
~ sought in the lake states which q
few years ago was ignored as utterly
worthless, and in the south the whole
pine region is being gone over in a
close search for the old field pine, a
tree once despised but now bought up
at prices much higher than those for.
merly paid for the magnificent timber
of the virgin forests.
A publication just issued by the de.
partment of agriculture, entitled
National Forests and the Lumber
Supply defines the important part
which the national forests are des.
tined tt play in the economic develop
ment of the country. Abuses have
grown up under the laws which pro.
vide for the disposition of public land,
notably the segregation of large hold
ings of timber land for speculative
purposes. Timber from the national
forests is now purchased by the thous-
and board feet, and payment is made
upon the actual scale Of the logs when
cut. Two dollars and a half per thous.
and feet is comparatively low as pres
ent charges go, but since the cut
ranges from 5000 to 20, 600 feet per
acre, the government receives from
five to twenty times as much for the
| tim Der as it did under the timber and
stone act.
Public opinion now demands, not
that the government should dispose OF
its remaining timber lands as rapidly
as possible and leave it to private en-.
terprise to exploit the forest hastily,
but that what remains of the national
forests should be more conservatively
used. The government has been forced
into the lumber business solely in or.
der that a supply of forest products
may be guaranteed to future genera
tiOns.
Probably TO per cent. of the total
stand Of merchantable timber within
the forests Is located on the Pacific
coast, where for a long time the enor-
nous supply of privately owned tim
Der will satisfy most of the demand.
This more accessible private timber
surrounded the forests as the meat OF
an apple surrounds the core. 1t has
been entirely eaten away in many
places, while in others it is locked w
by spectators. The thing to remem'
Der, then, is that this immense body
of public timber is there as a grea
reserve against the time when priv
ate timber lands will be depleted, ant
for use as a weapon against monopo
ly.
The first effect Of national forest
upon prices, particularly where Their
is still a great deal of available tim
t Der, is to raise the price OF Outsid
+, stumpage toward its actual value b
Withdrawing the excess supply OF low
priced timber from the market. Bu
8 later, as the supply OF timber dwindle
d and values are forced upward by spec
ulative holdings, the effect of the fol
ests will be to check the advance
prices.
Far beyond the present influence {
ID the national forests upon the lumb'
ic supply will be their Importance in Il
e. future. The United States is now ia
er ing q shortage In the stock of avail
III bic timber. The yield from the n
ne tioual forests will aid greatly
he bridge over the period in which IN
az ture timber will be lacking, . peri'
- which will last from the time the o
vs. trees are gone until the young ire
OF are large enough to take their place