Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-07-19
DEMAND ON INCREASE
Need for Wood Products in
\ Building Is Growing.
REPORT BY DEPARTMENT
Car Shortage Cause Operating to
Reduce Output.
MILLS AT MAXIMUM CAPACITY
Statistics Showing Stumpage in Vari-
Gus States-Efect of Pulp In
dustry-Total Production.

The ever increasing demand for wood
products, notwithstanding the addition OF
artificial substitutes, as building material.
the oft asserted claim that the timber
supply of the country is fast vanishing
from sight, and the recent White House
conference looking to extraordinary
means for the conservation of the natural
resources of the country make interesting
the report showing the cut of lumber.
laths and shingles for 1907, just issued by
the Department of Commerce and Labor.
The latter with the assistance of the forest
service of the Department of Agriculture.
has for several years been gathering sta
tistics on the subject of the annual pro-
duction of various forest products.
The aggregate cut of lumber in the
United States increased from 1851 mil
lion feet. board measure. in 1905. to 40
80 million feet in 1907. a gain of 2,7O5
million feet. For lath and shingles the
total production was 1864 million and H.
$50 million. respectively. in 1907, a de-
crease Of 40 million in lath and an in
crease of ~ million in shingles.
1t is said that the substantial increase
in the total production of lumber in 1907,
as compared with 1906, in spite of the
financial stringency which measurably af-
fected most lines of manufacture during
part of the later year, is remarkable,
and especially so in view of certain well
known local causes which also operated
during the whole or a part of the year
to reduce the output of the regions af-
fected.
Causes Which Reduce Output.
The causes which operated to reduce
the output. 1t is stated, are car shortage.
which necessitated a restriction in the
cut during the earlier months of the year;
the practical suspension of lumber manu-
facture on the Pacific coast early in the
fall. because of the freight rates; the
steady decline due to the rapid exhaustion
of the timber supply in the lake states
and in the southern states, which have
been the principal producers of lumber
in recent years. and the effect of the
business depression which prevailed dur
ing the latter part of 1907. Yet the output
is regarded as astonishing.
The increase Is in part accounted for
by the unprecedented volume of building
operations under way during 1905 and
the earlier part of 1907, which created
such demand for yellow pine that the
mills were kept running at practically
maximum capacity not only during the
greater part of 1907, but even after the
decline in building activity had become
general and pronounced.
This condition, it is claimed, created a
demand for new mills.
More than nine-tenths of the stand Of
yellow pine stumpage is IN the coast states
from Virginia to Texas and Arkansas.
and this group of states. with kentucky
and Tennessee. where oak and poplar are
the principal lumber trees reported a to-
tai lumber cut in 1907 Of 17.634,2lS thou
sandfeet by 1895 mills, as against 49,
GH ITO thOusand-feet by S.143 mills in
1906. an increase of 17.2 per cent in pro-
duction and of 500 per cent in the num-
Der of mills.
Enter Into the Supply.
Yellow pine. long leaf. short leaf, lob
Jolly, Cuban. etc. oak. poplar. white pine,
.hemlock. red gum and tupelo were the
principal woods which entered unto the
enormous output
In New York and New England, where
the manufacture of lumber and allied
products from standing timber holds a
relatively high place among the indus
tries, it is stated that the totals were not
materially changed from those of the pre-
vious year. yet most Of the states showed
gains. while in a few instances the rela-
tive increases were considerable. The
combined cut in the two regions for 1907
exceed that of 1906 by 34S,214 thousand
feet, or 1O.7 per cent. This showing 1t is
declared, is noteworthy in view of the
waning timber supply in those regions
and the adverse business conditions which
prevailed
Practically the entire output of the
mills of this section-unlike that of the
mills In the lake states, the southern
states and the Pacific Coast states-is
marketed locally and is insufficient in
quantity to satisfy the normal demand,
considerable percentage Of the prod
uct consumed here being shipped in.
chiefly from the south and from the
lake region. The falling off in the de-
En-.
the latter part of 1907, therefore, while
reflected sharply in the decreased ship
ments into them. apparently had little
or no bearing on the output of the local
mills. whose capacity was still short of
the demand.
Wood Pulp Industry.
Although the wood pulp industry is
making a heavy and increasing draft
upon the supply of spruce. this tree
still practically shares with white pine
the place of first Importance among the
lumber timbers of this region. The cut
of spruce reported in 1907 was $685.
26S thousandfeet. an increase over 1905
of 1914 thousand-feet, or IA per cent
1t formed 3O4 per cent Of the total out
put of all lumber in these states in
1907. while white pine contributed 31.s
per cent.
The total production of the lake states
was J,1Ol sucO tilouSdHu-iccl III lsDt anu u
2l972S thousand-feet in 1905. decrease
of 72S.O4S thousand-feet. or Ill per cent.
Among the various species the greatest
loss was in pine. while for hemlock
maple and Eastwood the relative de-
creases were comparatively small. For
birch there was an increase of 46 per
cent. In these states. as a whole. pine
still holds the place of first Importance.
though the history of numbering in Michi-
gan, where with the passing of pine the
cut of the mills ran to hemlock and the
hard woods. is being repeated in Wiscon-
sin. In this state in 1907 the reported cut
of pine for the first time fell below that
of hemlock, the output of the latter ex-
ceeding that of the former by 1877 per
cent. while in 1905 the production of pine
was greater than that Of hemlock by ID 1
per cent. In Minnesota the cut of pine
in 1907 formed 91.6 per cent of the total
lumber output of that state and represent
ed 600 per cent of the aggregate cut of
this wood in all the lake states.
The report also includes a comparison
of the last years figures with those for
1900, 1904 and 1905 In addition to those of
1906