The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1908-05-14
WASTE Of NATION
GROWS ALARMING
Continued from First Page)

Particular interest was displayed in tie
remarks Of J. $ Whipple. fsh and game
commissioner of New York, and also
those OF President Hadley. Of Yale Uni
versity.
Mr.. Hill in his address spoke in part,
as follows:
The sum of resources is simple and
fixed. From the sea, the mine. the for
est and the soil must be gathered every
thing that can sustain the life OF man.
Jpon the wealth that these supply must
be conditioned forever. as Tar as we can
see, not only his progress but his con-
tinued existence on earth. How stands
the inventory Of property for our own
people? The resources Of the sea fur
nish less than 5 per cent of the food
supply, and that is all. The forests OF
this country. the product Of centuries
of growth, are fast disappearing The
best estimates reckon our standing mer-
chsntable timber at less than ZOO Co.,,
600, 600 feet Our annual cut is about
10000, 600, 600 feet. The lumber cut rose
from 1900 OOC 900 feet in 1850 10 $4,000. -
100000 feet in 1906; that is, it nearly
doubled in twenty-five years. We are
now using annually 800 feet board meas
ure Of timber per capita, as against an
average OF 60 feet for all Europe.
Supply Gone.
The New England supply Is gone.
The Northwest furnishes small growths
that would have been rejected by the
lumberman thirty years ago. The South
has reached its maximum production
and begins TO decline. On ths Pacific
Coast only is there now any consider
able body Of merchantable standing
timber.
We are consuming yearly three or
four times as much timber as forest
growth restores. Our supply of some
varieties viii be practically exhausted
in ten or twelve years: IN the case of
others. without TefOresting, the present
century will see the end. When VIII
we take up IN practical and intelli-
gent way the restoration OF our forests
Turning now 70 one of the only two
remaining sources OF wealth. the mine.
We find II different from the others IN
an important essential II is incapable
Of restoration or TeCuperatiOn. The
mineral wealth stored in the earth can
be used only once.
Coal Exhaustion.
The exhaustion Of our coal supply
IS not III the indefinite future. The
startling feature OF our coal production
is not so much the magnitude OF the
annual output as its rate OF growth.
For the decade ending in 1905 the total
product was 2S32. 402. 746 tons, which Is
almost exactly one-half the total prod
net previously mined in this country.
Tor the year 1906 the output was IA
100000 tons. an increase of IS per cent
on the average annual yield Of the ten
years preceding. In 1907 our production
reached 4lOOO0O00 tons. Fifty years ago
Inc annual per capita prOduC ton was
little more than One-quarter Of a ton.
il Is now about nVe tons II is but
eight years since We took the place OF
Great Britain as the leading coal pro-
ducinE nation OF the world, and al
ready our product exceeds hers by over
- per cent, and is 81 per cent Of the
known production Of the world. Esti-
mates of coal deposits still remaining
must necessarily be somewhat vague.
but they are approximately near the
mark. The best authorities do not rate
them at much over 1000, 000, eco, 900 tons.
II coal production continues 10 increase
as IL has in the last ninety years. the
available supply viii be greatly re-
duced by the close of the century. Be
fore that time arrives, however, resort
10 lower grades and sinking OF mines TO
greater depths viii become necessary
making the product inferior in quality
ana higher IN price.
Same Prospect With Iron.
The iron industry tells a similar sto-
~. The total of iron ore mined In the
United States doubles about once in
seven years. II was less than L. OOO, 900
tons in 1888, over $4,000, 600 tons in 1899,
4i.ii0.000 tons IN 1906, and over s., co... OOG
tons In 1917. The rising place OF iron
IA the worlds life Is the most impress
sIVe phenomenon OF the last century
IN 1880 the pig iron production of the
CAIted states amounted to 500, 157 tons,
CT about nifty pounds per capita Our
production Is now over COO pounds per
capita.
Soil Waste.
we now turn to the only remaining
resource Of man upon this earth which
IS the soil itself. How are we caring
for that. and what possibilities doas n
bold out TO the people Of future support ?
we are only beginning 10 feel the Dras-
sure upon the land. The whole interior
" TINS continent aggregating more than
5OU,yO,UJ acres, has been OccuDied hy,
settlers within fifty years. What -is there
leit for the next nifty years? we baTs
CV'VU.Vg acres Of surveyed and 81. 500 ora
acres Of unsurveyed land as orr scfiTgI
remaining stock And q .OO6, 600 acTa-
were disposed Of in 1907. How long viii
me remainder last2 No longer can Nc
say that Uncle Sam has land enough
10 give us ali a farm %
Equity threatening is the cbaneA IN
quaAty- There are two ways in which
the productive power OF the earth is
!essenedi nrsL BY erosion and the sVeen-
ing away OF the fertile surface inTo
streams and thence 20 the sea and seq
ond Dy exhaustion through wrong meta
0ds OF cultivation. The former process
mas gone far, Thousands OF acres In
the East and South have been made
nnnt Tor tlilage. Millions of acres in
places 10 the extent OF one-tenth OF the
enLFe arabic area. have been SO Injured
that no Industry and no care can re
store them
In no other important countr1y in tbA
world, with the exception Of Rilseia IL
me AidusJfy that must be the founda-
ton or every state, at so low. an ahh
as IN our own According to tha IA 81
census the average annual product nar
acre or the farms Of the whole TTniTad
States was worth S11.38. It is little more
than respectable rental In Commune
tiles where the soil Is properly cared
for and made 10 give a reasonable ra-
turn for cultivation
Lands Abused.
'.Our agricultural lands have been
abuEed in two principal ways; first by
single cropping, and second by neglect
ing fertilization. 1t is fortunate for us
that nature is slow to ang IT. and that
we may arrest the consequences of This
ruinous policy before IL is TOO late. IN
all parts Of the United States. with onlv
isolated exceptions. the system OF tillage