Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1911-11-08

its chief distribution, nature has de-
Icreed that the thirsty and productive
soil must first be watered before set
Element and its consequent demand for
lumber is possible, except on very
limited scale. Thus, the intimate re-
llationship between irrigation and the
lumber industry of the west is easily
Idiscernible
But what particular interest does
the cause of irrigation bear to the
great producers of lumber lying south
of the Ohio river, and why should
they have lent their assistance through
their representatives in congress TO
the passage of the Borah measure?
The lumber interests of the west
and the south lent their assistance Ia
the passage Of this constructive legis-
lation. providing for an issue of SEQ
000,00O certificates to complete the ma
tional irrigation projects. numbering
more than twenty. They were not en-
tirely unselfish i'm their advocacy of
| the measure.
Here again is where enlightened
selfishness controls. The lumbermen
of the west, finding a limited demand
for their steadily increasing output in
their natural marketing zone invaded
the yellow pine territory, lying west
of the Rocky mountains. The AK of
the southern lumberman was being
gored The western lumberman had
to make a price at which his product
would move in competition with the
southern product.
.rIn l,,,, laar for.
south as Florida, realized that the only
possible chance from well night ruin
Gus competition from the great lum-
| berng possibilities of the west at
| tracted such men as J. 3. White. pres
| ident of the National Conservation
congress and southern lumber opera
tor: r. A. Long of Kansas City. also a
power in southern pine interests, and
other lumbermen to throw their
strength in behalf of the cause of irri-
cation. 1t was self protection. 1t
meant larger market for southern
yellow pine. not only by possibly
checking the aggressions of their west
ern neighbors. but in Texas. Colorado.
! Wyoming, New Mexico and Nebraska.
where they were already doing BUSH
ness and where national irrigation pro-
jects were being developed.
To-day, but for the results which
have accrued from the development
Of the west and southwest from irri-
CATION, the market for western lum-
Der would have been much less than
il is Without irrigation there would
scarcely be a foot of lumber sold in
W. LII.
except for an occasional ranchman's
shanty California alone imported from
the states of oregon and Washington
by cargo 1900. 900 feet of lumber
in 1910 The bulk of this lumber was
consumed within the state. or por-
ton reshipped to Nevada, Arizona and
New Mexico. Ii is safe To say that
without irrigation in the states men
toned probably less than 10 percent of
this lumber would have been con-
sumed This vast amount represents
only a portion of the lumber con-
sumed i'm the states mentioned.
intensified farming. made possible by
irrigation, is the mainstay of the west
ern lumbermen. When the country is
settled in small farms and orchards
the consumption Of lumber per capita
is large obviously. The reverse is true
where wheat raising or stock farming
predominates.
Irrigation makes possible the high
est utilization of the tree by providing
a home market within zones where
transportation charges are not prohib-
tive 1t creates steady and icreas-
ing demand for lumber, hence the
lumberman should give literally of
their substance to promote in every
way possible a broad and comprehen-
sive national and state policy in deal
ing with either public or private ir-
rigation. Irrigation is the handmaiden
of numbering The irrigatiOnist and
lumberman must work together
THE National Lumber Manufactur-
ers' association should take a foremost
place at every session of the National
Irrigation congress, especially the con-
Vention in Chicago, December to y,
and lend its influence, which Families
To every state in the union. in behalf
of the cause of irrigation, to which
the lumber industry of the northwest,
in many instances, owes its very eXis-
tence."