Jackson County journal., 1919-08-29
Trees in Forests Must Be Re-
placed or Great Scarcity
Will Result.
SAW MILLS SMALL FACTOR
Pup Mills Eat Up Many Millions Of
Spruce Every Year Scientific
Forestry Has Not Caught Up
to Tree Slaughter.

EanEor, Me.-When the world pets
through with its arguments about war
pace. the Cor a) League of Nations
rI all that is expressed in the
short ana ugly word rum" it should
farD its most serious and INTELLIGENT
1f,rnlion to tree farming. Positively
there must be many more trees or q
constant and liberal replenishment of
thr existing supply, or presently we
shall suffer great Inconvenience from
the scarcity of many useful and some
ornamental things.
In the simple and innocent old tinoS
tree was ju't so much standing lum-
Der ana lumber was cheap. Within
the memory of men of middle age
frSrcIaSS spruce logs sold in Bangor
at Hll TO Sl4 per thousand feet The
men who cut the logs were paid s1o
to $50 month and board, the hoard
consisting chiefly of bunk to sleep
IN ana Deans twenty-one times n
week. The men who drove" the
same logs, that is, personally con-
dG'''H them down the roaring brooks
AMI raging rivers, received for their
iahorS ANA hair-raising risks, So. TO
- day' according to their athletic
skii ana their fame as white wafer
men. ana OF course all hands were
fea although the menu was character
Eed ny monotonous simplicity and
the service subject to many irregu-
laritI'S and poStponements. These
same logs were sawed in mills that
0Tnamented the banks of the Penob
scot FOR fifty miles or more. chiefly
between Milford and Bangor. dis
@nce Of about fifteen miles. The mill
hndS went to work very early in the
morning and kept at it until long af-
ter everyone else had quit for the
day' being rewarded to the extent Of
ahout $50 month and all the corned
Oeet' cabbage, ETC., they could eat in
twenty 10 thirty minutes, three or
-FOUR times a day, according to sea-
son.
Profit to Manufacturer.
The understanding spruce that was
sliced off by the saws was worth
Sl+ 10 $21 per thousand feet. accord
Ing to quality and dimensions. This
would seem to allow of slight profit
70 the manufacturer, but there are
various ways of measuring logs and
!umher-woodS scale, boom scale and
nil Srale-and during the golden era
Of Bonsor's spruce trade the iucclerv
o. h%ureS was such that 900 feet Of
logs boom scale would "saw out"
anywhere from 1,15O to 1,4OO feet of
lumber, 1.2O0 feet being a fair aver
age So even in the gloomiest days.
"Hen heavy spruce dimensions were
selling at $21 to S23 and the Bangor
H'I men would sit In their Offices
che"ing tobacco and cussing the hard
ufhrS they were N fact making q
pretty good thing-especially if they
Happened to own the land the logs
We're cut from.
Then last Of all, the coasters who
carried the lumber to Boston. the |
sound and New York got S1.75. 50 25
@uo 500 per thousand feet for de- |
n'efy at those several destinations
Wat Is, the rates quoted prevailed
uurlhg fairly good times. In dull
umeS lumber was carried from Ban
sor 70 Boston as cheaply as $1.25 to |
SI''o per thousand. to Long Island |
sound ports at $1.75 to So, and to New
lork at 50 to So.
Now everything Is changed. OF
Maihes normal log cut of 100000
WV reet, at least 60 per cent goes In
/" pulp and paper. The native log
ser, VINO swung a sharp ak skillfully
a. HiS to $50 month and was con-
'ent to live on baked beans and
so.'ed hsh, has been succeeded by
p'FSiot mob that uses saws lam
suidIy at $50 to $50 month, de-
Iuji"!S hotel fare, frequent payments,
pune treatment and every few weeks
vacation. The logs for the most
l'l'' are cut into four-foot lengths,
", ~',, 'hey go to the big pulp and paper
N""> owned by corporations that long
e' oouSht up hundreds of thousands
VI "'ies or the best timber in Maine.