Los Angeles herald., 1908-01-11

lf5X Naz4l TO "A few short months ago our
lHA Yl orators as well as most of our
IHS ksNl scientists, have talked about our
2aXk29NI all but inexhaustibe resources.
They have pictured America as
the worlds storeho' Sc of industrial sup
piles-the place where, in the ages past
the forces of nature garnered power and
material enough to supply the world Tor
uncounted generations. But a few think
ing men began by the simple mathemau-
cal process of comparing our annual pro-
duction of principal commodities with the
total supply, and the result has shown
that the day of spendthriftness must pass
or we will bequeath to our children a
country shorn of the things that have
made the mightiest nation upon which
the sunshine of heaven falls.
1t has shown that the great strides we
have ma lie, In which every other record of
history has been totally eclipsed, have
drawn heavy drafts upon our natural
wealth. The note of alarm was sounded
ard the country began to think. Presi-
dent Roosevelt was impressed so deeply
with the necessity OF looking to the
future that he called meeting of the
governors of all the states to consider
tho question 1t is the first time In the
history of the republic that a president
has called such conference as will meet
in Washington il. May. Even during .Ae
momentous times preceding the Civil war,
when the very fate of the nation itself
was In the balance, no such step was
taken.
And yet, well might the country pause
in it's progress and consider the end. The
fathers have built a stanch old ship of
state, mighty, and brave and powerful
enough to ride safely through the most
tempestuous storms on the unexplored
seas of time, provided we will follow the
chart and the compass they gave us. But
what were ell that, even, If we are to
| transmit to our posterity land without
| the strength that internal wealth gives
| it?
| Within thirty-three years at the most,
| unless protective steps are taken. America
| will have found a substitute for wood or
| else feel the handicap that the lack of
timber brings upon a people. Forests that
have been generations in growing trees
that were old when the cradle of liberty
was being rocked are disappearing as the
dew before the morning sun, sacrifice
to the ruthless hand of industry that
counts not the cost. We are today maxi
| ing annual inroads upon our forests at the
| rate of Zoe, 900 100000 board feet a year.
| The annual growth is not over 10000 100000
| feet so that the net annual drain upon
| the American forests amounts to 6O,OOO,-
| 600 600 board feet. The highest estimate
! of the timber supply of the country
counting the lowest estimates of annual
| consumption, the highest estimates of the
annual growth, and the highest estimates
| of present stumpage, the date of final
exhaustion of the timber supply will
| come before 1910. Taking the average es-
Inmates of the people most competent to
| speak on the subject, that unpropitious
| event must come before 1882.
The exhaustion of the American forest
does not alone mean that We viii. have to
| look elsewhere for timber supplies or find
| substitutes. 1t means even more. Scien-
| tific research has shown that timber has
| an influence over rainfall and that tim
bered regions are the great conservors or
| our rivers Denude the hillsides of their
forests and the rainfall. instead of being
taken up by the earth and turned out
| again in perennial springs to gladden.
| the heart of man, rushes madly away TO
the sea- carrying millions of wealth before
| ii and leaving an all but empty channel
behind it. as If to proclaim to man the
wrath of nature at the breaking OF 'ss
laws So the exhaustion o. the forest be-
comes problem vastly more serious than
even the wiping out of the timber sup
ply.
Even more serious than this, Is the eX-
haustion of the coal supply. A few gen
erations of practical forestry would
serve to right the wrongs of the denuded
forests But the work OF making our
Goa. beds has been one of countless cen
turies. When they are gone mortal man
4 can never replace them. At the present
rate of increasing consumption the an
thracite coal of America would become
a thing of the past in a century Time
And even il production. after reachlng a
climax within ten years, should tnen ran
off as rapidly as it increased IN tne
previous years, the final exhaustion could
| haxron1 bs daNS OF the
grandchildren of men now living"
| II Is estimated d that there remains i'll the
anthracite beds of northeastern Pennsyl-
vania about four thousand seven nun
dred million tons of unmined COAL OF
which upward of 100000 900 tons are on
the lines of the Philadelphia Readlng.
rhese deposits are being used up at the
rate of 10000. 900 tons year. The disap-
pearance of anthracite from our available
coal supply would be a calamity greater
than the mind of the layman can under
! stand There are thousands OF Things
that can be done so well by the use OF
no other fuel as by the use or anthra-
cite-things which those who are looking
beyond our own times say must be pro-
vided for Anthracite is being used in a
thousand other ways where btuminous
+, could as well be used. but these things
are being no more considered than If our
anthracite beds were as inexhaustible as
the widows famous cruise Of oil
The extent Of the bituminous supply in
the United States has never been esti-
mated with more than approximate ac-
curacy. NJ r. Campbell. in charge of
the economic geology office of the United
states geological survey, estimates that
there were two trillion two hundred bill
lion tons of bituminous coal in the United
states when the people began mining 1t.
We have taken out 4,675, 100000 tons,
with at least one-half as much waste.
) making 1000, 900, 900 900 tons in all. He
figures that on this basis 100 years will
suffice to exhaust the supply.
Iron and copper likewise are feeling the