The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1909-07-28

Many of the great businesses of the
country, figuring on the immense eN
!. pansion of trade which is bound tt
7 come within the neat thirty or forty
years, have organized what System
calls tomorrow departments" anc
are taking steps to safeguard against
a failure in material, in supplies, IL
facilities.
For example, the Pennsylvania
Railroad consumes more than 7,00O,'
600 wooden railroad ties a year. AL
railroads together consume 100000.
O00-one-twelfth of the sawed tim
Der in the country. Analysis deter
mined the necessity of creating a new
source that would afford the supply q
generation from now.
The Pennsylvania Railroad created
therefore a tomorrow department.
a department of forestry. The rail,
road has planted 2,250,000 trees IN
the State of Pennsylvania. In the
nursery at H~ollidaysburg are 100000
trees that are ready to be transplant
ed this year; near Altoona the com
pany owns $4,000 acres of forestry
land and many thousands elsewhere,
Here is an expenditure which must
be repeated every year for genera
lions before first returns come in, but
it is good business policy; present
values depend upon future prospects.
Other roads and other industries
ho-o h1ichNl cipoi1or fN-r0rrnw
departments, for timber is the raw
material in numbering, in paper, In
woodworking.
The International Paper Company
owns or controls 100000 acres of
forest land in Canada. It has timber
lands in New England and New York.
In Vermont old and worn out farms
with young spruce upon them have
been bought, with no returns avail
able for twenty years.
More than this, the tomorrow de-
partments must see to it that present
consumption is most economical. In
place of the old policy of eXtermina-
ton cutting is most scientific. Smaller
spruce trees are left standing, as we'll
as the woods not suitable for paper
making. This will then furnish the
cutting for the next generation.
Paper mills all owe the country are
coming to realize this necessity OF
buying insurance for the future by
assuring their timber supply, and so
with chemical concerns. The Amer
lean Agricultural Chemical Company
controls 1000 acres Of phosphate
lands in Florida and like possessions
elsewhere.
Chemical capital is invested in nj
trate beds of Chile, property which
may not be touched for half a life
time. The lumber industries are pre-
empting the available supply Of for
est, and, more significant, are plant
ing rubber trees-during the last two
years more than for the two decades
previous.
In Mexican County Of Pennsylvania
Is a virgin forest seven miles square
untouched amid denuded country
one of the hemlock properties Of a
leather company; and many more like
concerns are learning from this ex-
ample the necessity of protecting the
future Of their bark supply.
Foresight for tomorrow is not con-
fined entirely to the big industries.
An Illinois brick company, for in
stance, has acquired a bank Of clay
three miles long, sufficient to last a
hundred years. Even though good
location seem unlimited to-day, to-
morrow this company thinks they
may be rare.
Except as to protecting his mar
kets the manufacturer operating on a
small basis may not have the re-
sources to assure himself of the safe
guards for tomorrow, but hundreds
of smaller manufacturers are doing
this, by co-operation-through their
trade associations.
The National Hickory Association,
for instance, is aiming to protect the
tomorrow of every one of it's mem
bers by three lines Of activity. 1t has
a statistical bureau which gives in
formation as to the most economical
points for timber operation and
makes recommendations for assuring
a continuance of supply. Its inspec-
ton bureau is investigating the pos
sibilities of e varieties of woods
and of less expensive woods for the
same purposes. The by-product bu-
reau is making studies and recon-
mendaticns in the working up of the
product.
Many of the railroads have bought
their fuel supplies half a century
ahead. A few iron and steel indus
tries have guaranteed their ore supply
for the same period. A generation
ago the railroads had practically nc
tomorrow policy. If they had been
wise enough to carry out such a policy
they would not have been obliged tc
put the hundreds of millions into ter.
minals which are now being spent
that way.
The lesson has been learned. A
New York Central official declares
that $4,000, 900 a year is going into
lands to be drawn on later. For in
stance, the Northern Pacific has &C