River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1909-11-04
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keep with the expenditures return to the
the entire cost Of maintaining the forest
service. Private of grazing lands the
regions ask and receive much higher return
head of stock for the of their lands than does the
forest service The national forests which contain
fifth OF the standing merchantabe timber IN the coun-
try furnished year per cent of it's lumber
cut resulting in the removal from the forests of about
one-eighh of per cent. of the stand OF this
paravey insignificant cut, onefourth not sold, but
was given to home-buiders and communities yet the
sales brought in nearly 100000 If the chief object of
the forests were to produce immediate income, the
amount received could be multiplied several uInes
There is actually going to waste in the woods each
year. through decay and other natural from five
to ten times the amount of timber being cut.
With adequate force of forest officers available
much of this waste might be prevented Timber sales
involve for marking scaling and supervising the work.
to the of about 80 cents thousand
feet and the amount sold cannot be much increased
without increased appropriation There is also the
waste of the productive power of the forest which
be brought into full play until the mature trees have
been removed to make for growing crop
Most of the forest timber is beyond reach unless
heavy OUTLAWS made to obtain means of transporta
ton. Such timber be sold only to those who COM
mand large of capital and even then only at
a relatively low price On the other hand, where the
demand for the timber is good and competition Tor It's
purchase fairly brisk it is generally necessary TO go
slowly because certainty of future requirements
In short the question the timber that safely
wisely he sold is a local one The fact that timber
rotting woods in distant regions will not help
communities which find their home supply exhausted.
For these the sales of national forest timber
are carefully guarded. The amount of national forest
timber sold during the year slightly 3S6OOOOO0
feet or not much onethird the amount sold the
previous year. The falling off directly due to the
refusas to large Under such sales the ac-
cutting allowed to extend several years The
amount of timber paid for during the how
ever than doubled the cut of the previous year.
with total of quite 1893 100000 feet. The receipts
from timber sales about $S50,000, against not
quite S670000 the previous year In addition there
was cut under 130000000 feet of timber
valued at about $4,000
The timber lands of the west, outside of the national
forests are mainly strong hands Were the national
forest offered the market to purchaser
the main of western numbering would be quickly
shifted the public holdings 1t is sometimes asserted
that creation of the national forests has played into
the hands of monopolsts of timber lands 1t on
the contrary eleventhhour hating of the
which would made the hold obtanable by such a
monopoly complete. To permit the of standing
timber to preserve their stumpage intact while supply
ing their business needs through purchase from the
eminent would simply invite the boarding of private
timber for further high prices while the public supply
would be disposed of without adequate return.
Under the timber-sale policy in force both the
present and the future interests of the consumer are
borne in mind The needs of those dependent on the
forests are supplied up the limit set by the power OF
the region to maintain steady yield. 1t is recognized
also that the removal of mature timber to make room
for new and growing crop is the only way by which
the forests can put to work. Small sales are, how